u 


THE  WIGWAMyPITION. 


ORDER  THE  WIGWAM  EDITION. 


LINCOLN  &  HAMLIN. 


THE  REGULAR  CAMPAIGN  EDITION, 

KNOWN    AS 

"TIIJE    WIGWAM    EDITION" 

OP 

The  Life,  Speeches,  and  Public  Services 

OP 

HON.    ABRAM    LINCOLN, 

TOGETHER    WITH   A   II FE   OP 

HON.  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN, 

Republican   Candidates   for  President   and  Vice 
President  of  the  United  States. 

One  vol.  \2mo.    Paper  covers,  with  Portrait.    Price  25cts. 


"THE   WIGWAitt    EDITION. 


»* 


From  its  excellence  as  a  Biography ;  the  evident  care  in 
its  construction ;  and  the  judicious  selection  of  speeches 
and  extracts,  the  "Wigwam  Edition"  has  already  taken 
precedence  among  the  Lives  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin.  The 
Publishers  have  spared  neither  pains  nor  expense  in  its 
preparation,  as  a  glance  at  its  contents  will  demonstrate. 


h 


Liberal  Reductions  from  the  retail  price  of  25  cents, 

will  be  made  to  Booksellers,  Agents,  and  Clubs  through- 

ut  the  country,  for  these  Popular  Lives.      Particulars, 

$ermB,-etc,  may  be  learned  from 
I 

*•  RIDD  &  CARLETOM,  Publishers, 

130  Grand  Street,  New  York. 


uwiewis 


• 


THE    "WIGWAM    EDITION. 


THE 


Life,  Speeches,  and  Public  Services 


ABRAM     LINCOLN, 

Together  with  a  Sketch  of  the  Life  of 

HANNIBAL     HAMLIN. 


Republican  Candidates  for  the  Offices  of  President  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States. 


M» 


NEW      YORK  : 

Rudd   &   Carleton,    130   Grand   Street 

(brooks  building,  cor.  of  broadway). 

M  DCCC  LX. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S60,  by 

KUDD  &  CAELETON, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


E.    CRAIGHEAD, 
Printer,  Siereotyper,  and  Elecirotyper, 

Carton  CuilDiiifl, 

81,  83,  and  85  Centre  Street. 


D 

THE  LIFE  OF  ABRAM  LINCOLN. 


If  there  is  any  one  peculiarity  of  American  nationa- 
lity, any  phase  of  American  character  by  which  it  is 
distinguished  in  the  eyes  of  discerning  foreigners,  any 
trait  that  will  make  it  pre-eminent  in  history,  it  is  that 
singular  sort  of  energy,  half  physical  and  half  intellec- 
tual, nervous,  intense,  untiring,  which  has  achieved  all 
of  greatness  that  America  has  yet  attained ;  it  is  this  that 
is  applied  to  every  aim,  that  is  found  in  every  class  in  life, 
that  is  evident  in  Morse  and  Franklin  and  "Webster  and 
Scott ;  that  captures  Monterey  and  searches  for  the  North 
Pole,  that  lays  Atlantic  Telegraphs  and  subdues  the 
Indian  race ;  that  covers  a  continent  with  railways,  that 
converts  a  distant  colony  into  a  thriving  State  in  half  a 
dozen  years,  that  has  carried  this  people  to  its  present 
height  of  prosperity  and  power.  Now,  although  this  nerv- 
ous untiring  energy  is  in  some  sort  intellectual,  although 
it  implies  the  possession  and  the  exercise  of  brain,  yet  it 
is  as  much  material  as  intellectual ;  it  consists  in  the  appli- 
cation of  power  to  matter ;  it  is  not  ideal  but  eminently 
practical ;  it  is  like  a  steam  engine,  the  product,  the  result 
of  profound  and  hidden  forces,  of  internal  fires,  but  its 
action  is  externally  demonstrated ;  it  rides  over  and  under 
mountains,  it  bridges  rivers,  and  reaches  its  aim  by  tramp- 
ling upon  obstacles:  it  is  not  delicate  nor  dainty,  but 
tremendous  and  terrible ;  it  is  successful.  This  energy  is 
manifested  in  various  ways  and  by  various  characters, 


6  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

but  by  none  more  emphatically  than  the  backwoods- 
man :  the  backwoods-man  of  to-day  corresponds  to  the 
Puritan  of  two  centuries  ago.  The  same  work  which  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  had  to  do  in  New  England,  is  now  set 
for  the  settlers  in  Illinois  and  Wisconsin.  This  work, 
whose  accomplishment  is  the  wonder  of  Europe,  is  the 
subduing  of  nature,  the  civilization  of  a  continent. 

The  backwoods-man  represents  this  individual  trait  of 
American  character.  Abroad,  the  backwoods-man  is 
looked  upon,  and  rightly,  as  the  representative  American. 

Hitherto  the  backwoods-man  has  been  powerful  and 
important,  it  is  true,  but  never  until  now  has  been  con- 
ceded to  him  the  first  place.  Men  of  experience  and  cul- 
ture and  training  in  the  arts  of  polished  life  have  claimed 
the  highest  honors  in  America  as  abroad.  But  the 
natural  result  of  democratic  institutions  is  now  accomp- 
lished, and  a  great  and  powerful  party  has  selected  for 
its  standard  bearer,  one  who  never  received  more 
than  six  months'  schooling,  who  has  not  only  sprung 
directly  from  the  people,  but  who  still  belongs  to  the 
people,  who  is  of  them,  and  among  them ;  who,  like 
Antaeus,  finds  his  greatest  strength  in  his  contact  with 
that  from  which  he  sprang;  one  whose  parents  were 
poor,  and  who  is  now  not  rich,  but  whose  native  energies 
and  untutored  talents  have  obtained  for  him  the  remark- 
able recognition  which  we  chronicle.  "Whatever  may  be 
the  result  of  the  approaching  Presidential  election,  it  will 
always  be  distinguished  for  the  elevation  of  one  who 
had  been  a  working  man  to  such  pre-eminence  as  that 
accorded  to  Abram  Lincoln.  This  is  a  legitimate  re- 
sult of  democracy  ;  Lincoln  himself  in  his  history  and  in 
his  character  is  the  true  offspring  of  a  democracy.  No 
where  else  in  the  world  could  such  things  be,  and  be 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  7 

normal  and  natural.  A  fisherman  may  be  for  three  days 
king  of  Naples,  but  Massaniello  was  the  child  of  a  revolu- 
tion ;  a  butcher-boy  has  in  England  been  prime-minister, 
but  it  was  the  church  and  the  favor  of  his  sovereign  that 
elevated  TVolsey  ;  only  in  America  could  a  man  possess- 
ing none  of  the  advantages  of  birth  or  fortune,  or  friends 
or  education — achieve  so  marked  success,  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  events,  and  solely  by  dint  of  his  own  energy 
and  industry  and  ability.  Should  he  be  elected  Presi- 
dent, Abram  Lincoln  will  be  the  truest  illustration  and 
exponent  and  outcrop  of  American  institutions  that  those 
institututions  have  ever  known. 

He  has  revolutionary  blood  in  his  veins.  The  Lin- 
colns  of  Massachusetts,  who  are  known  for  their  patriot- 
ism in  the  war  of  '76,  were  his  progenitors.  That  Gene- 
ral Lincoln,  who  at  Yorktown,  received  from  Washing- 
ton the  sword  of  Cornwallis,  was  of  the  same  family ;  but 
in  this  country,  families  are  not  long  powerful  or  distin- 
guished ;  they  not  only  rise  suddenly  from  obscurity,  but 
they  descend  to  it  again  as  abruptly.  It  was  so  in  this 
instance.  Abram  Lincoln,  the  grandfather  of  him  who  is 
now  the  leader  of  the  Eepublican  party,  was  originally  a 
quaker  of  Berks  county,  Pennsylvania  ;  and  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  that  state,  some  of  his  kindred  and  name  may 
still  be  found.  He  early  emigrated  to  Kockingham 
county,  Virginia,  where  some  of  his  children  were  born. 
However,  not  all  the  descendants  of  the  old  Friend,  were 
destined  to  be  southerners,  for  in  1782  he,  who  seems  to 
have  been  a  sort  of  patriarch,  governing  the  conduct  even 
of  his  adult  and  married  sons,  removed  to  Hardin  coun- 
ty, Kentucky,  where  he  was  surprised  and  killed  by  In- 
dians while  at  work  on  his  clearing.  His  grandson, 
Abram,  was  born  Feb.  12,  1809 :  the  lad   enjoyed  lit- 


8  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

tie  parental  care,  for  -when  lie  was  but  six  years  old,  his 
father  died,  leaving  a  widow  and  several  children,  poor, 
and  almost  friendless  ;  so  his  entrance  into  life  was  under 
any  but  apparently  favorable  auspices  ;  in  the  uncleared 
forests  of  Kentucky,  amid  the  rude  associations  of  poverty 
and  comparative  ignorance ;  familiarized  with  the  log- 
cabin  and  the  rifle,  rather  than  the  school-room  or  the 
primer ;  accustomed  to  the  plow,  and  to  the  most  ordi- 
nary and  roughest  sorts  of  labor  from  his  very  boyhood. 
Yet,  such  influences  as  these  have  trained  others  into 
men  of  mark  ;  have  schooled  the  character  and  developed 
the  intellects  of  some  whose  figure  in  the  world  has  not 
been  despicable.  There  are  natures  for  whom  such 
hardening  associations  are  the  happiest,  and  Abram 
Lincoln  seems  to  have  been  of  these. 

The  family  removed  to  Spencer  county,  Indiana,  in 
1816,  but  hardly  relieved  their  destitution  by  this  change 
of  abode ;  so  in  1830,  Abram  pushed  still  further  west, 
into  Illinois.  He  was  now  twenty-one,  and  had  grown 
to  more  than  the  ordinary  stature  of  manhood,  his  height 
being  six  feet  and  three  inches,  but  his  mental  faculties 
had  hitherto  received  no  technical  training ;  opportuni- 
ties for  what  is  ordinarily  styled  education,  had  been 
utterly  without  his  reach.  He  had  lived,  and  still  lived 
the  life  of  the  laborious  poor.  He  was,  by  turns,  a  com- 
mon farm  laborer,  a  workman  in  a  saw-mill,  a  splitter  of 
rails,  and  a  flat-boatman  on  the  Wabash  and  Mississippi 
rivers — positions,  none  of  them  affording  remarkable  edu- 
cational advantages.  Still,  he  must  have  been  awake  and 
alive  to  what  opportunities  were  thrown  in  his  way,  and 
a  vigorous  mind  makes  opportunities  for  itself.  That  he 
had  a  vigorous  mind,  is  amply  proven  by  his  after  career. 
He  was  being  moulded  by  circumstances  even  so  unpro- 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  9 

pitious  as  these,  into  one  who,  in  due  time,  should  be  able 
to  mould  circumstances  themselves.  This  frontier  life, 
coarse  as  it  may  seem,  yet  developes  the  essential  stamina 
of  character ;  it  fosters  no  fastidious  refinements,  but  it 
produces  men  capable  of  material  and  even  of  intellec- 
tual greatness. 

In  1831,  Lincoln  still  changing  his  home  until  he 
should  find  one  thoroughly  to  suit  him,  removed  to  New 
Salem,  in  Sagamon  county,  Illinois;  here  he  remain- 
ed a  year,  salesman  in  a  country  shop,  or  store  ;  but 
trade  was  not  long  to  engross  his  energies ;  the  Black 
Hawk  war  broke  out,  and  opened  a  new  sphere  to  him ; 
gave  him  another  opportunity  of  seeing  life  in  still  ano- 
ther phase.  The  federal  government  called  for  volun- 
teers, and  he  responded.  He  must  have  already  shown 
some  marks  of  determination  or  of  character,  for  he  was 
chosen  captain  of  his  company.  The  settlers  of  that 
day  were  obliged  thus  to  defend  their  farms  and  their 
scanty  trade  against  the  attacks  of  the  Indians,  not  yet 
permanently  repulsed.  Illinois,  especially,  was  often 
beset  by  the  invaders  ;  and  the  hardy  adventurers,  mostly 
like  Lincoln  from  Kentucky  and  Virginia,  were  like  the 
New  Englanders  two  centuries  earlier,  obliged  to  leave 
the  plow  for  the  rifle,  and  resist,  by  turns,  the  attacks  of 
the  Sacs,  the  Pottawatamies,  the  Kickapoos,  and  the 
Shawnees.  So  they  marched  into  the  wilderness  to  repel 
Mucata-Muhicata,  the  fiercest  of  the  marauders.  Gene- 
rals Gaines  and  Atkinson  led  on  the  settlers,  and  it  was 
two  years  before  the  series  of  skirmishes  had  rid  the 
country  of  its  pestilent  assailants.  Mr.  Lincoln  thus 
humorously  alluded  to  this  experience  many  years  after 
in  a  Congressional  speech  : 

"  By  the  way,  Mr.  Speaker,  did  you  know  I  was  a 
1* 


io  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

military  hero  ?  Yes,  sir,  in  the  days  of  the  Black  Hawk 
war  I  fought,  bled,  and  came  away.  Speaking  of  Gen. 
Cass's  career,  reminds  me  of  my  own.  I  was  not  at  Sul- 
livan's defeat,  but  I  was  about  as  near  it  as  Cass  was  to 
Hull's  surrender;  and  like  him  I  saw  the  place  soon 
after.  It  is  quite  certain  that  I  did  not  break  my  sword, 
for  I  had  none  to  break ;  but  I  bent  my  musket  pretty 
badly  on  one  occasion.  If  Cass  broke  his  sword,  the  idea 
is,  he  broke  it  in  desperation.  I  bent  the  musket  by 
accident.  If  Gren.  Cass  went  in  advance  of  me  in  picking 
whortleberries,  I  guess  I  surpassed  him  in  charges  upon 
the  wild  onions.  If  he  saw  any  live  fighting  Indians, 
it  was  more  than  I  did,  but  I  had  a  good  many  bloody 
struggles  with  the  musquitoes ;  and  although  I  never 
fainted  from  loss  of  blood,  I  certainly  can  say,  I  was 
often  very  hungry." 

It  is  highly  probable  that  in  this  description,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln underrated  his  own  services  for  the  sake  of  ridicul- 
ing those  of  Gren.  Cass,  who  was  then  running  for  the 
Presidency.  He,  probably,  little  thought  that  he  himself 
would  one  day  be  in  a  similar  predicament. 

In  an  unsettled  region,  the  arts  of  war  and  peace  are 
often  confounded,  and  as  republics  of  ancient  and  mod- 
ern times  have  offered  civic  honors  to  their  successful 
generals,  it  was  not  surprising  that  Capt.  Lincoln  should 
be  nominated  for  the  State  Legislature  immediately  after 
his  return  from  the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  was  not 
elected,  but  the  mention  of  his  name  in  connection  with 
office,  at  so  early  an  age,  only  twenty-three,  indicates  the 
progress  he  was  making  in  the  estimation  and  confidence 
of  those  by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  One  defeat,  how- 
ever, did  not  dishearten  him ;  and  in  1833  he  was  elected 
by  the  Whig  party  to  the  lower  House,  and  served  for 


The   Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  11 

five  successive  sessions.  During  this  legislative  career,  he 
first  met  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  then  began  the  rivalry 
which  has  been  at  times  so  fierce,  and  which  has  not  yet, 
after  a  quarter  of  a  century,  subsided ;  but  has  instead 
become  a  matter  of  national  interest.  At  this  time  he 
was  a  land  surveyor,  but  so  poor  that  in  1837  his  instru- 
ments were  sold  under  execution.  "While  serving  as  a 
member  of  the  State  Legislature,  and  contriving  to  gain 
a  scanty  livelihood  by  his  laborious  occupation,  Lincoln 
found  time  to  study  the  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Illi- 
nois bar,  where  he  ever  since  has  maintained  a  position 
of  importance  and  influence.  He  distinguished  himself 
by  his  political  affiliations,  being  early  a  popular  advo- 
cate of  Whig  principles,  and  especially  of  the  famous  pro- 
tective policy  of  Henry  Clay,  which  was  then  one  of  the 
matters  engrossing  public  attention  and  interest.  In  fact, 
he  was  a  Whig  candidate  for  Presidential  Elector  in  every 
quadrennial  contest  from  1836  to  1852,  inclusive,  and  in 
18-14  he  stumped  the  state  for  Clay,  making  an  entire 
tour  of  Illinois,  and  learning  to  perfection  the  art  of 
addressing  popular  assemblages. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  style  and  manner  are  peculiarly  adapted 
to  produce  effects  upon  what,  in  this  country,  are  called 
mass  meetings.  He  is  ready,  precise,  and  fluent ;  witty 
and  humorous  by  turns  ;  has  a  good  command  of  forcible 
and  telling,  but  homely  language — all  the  more  telling, 
because  homely  ;  his  illustrations  are  apt,  his  arguments 
often  cogent,  his  good-nature  and  self-possession  unfailing. 
His  enunciation  is  slow  and  emphatic,  and  his  whole 
bearing  indicates  great  sincerity  and  earnestness,  which 
alone  are  sufficient  to  awaken  the  sympathy  of  his  listen- 
ers. His  features  are  not  handsome,  but  extremely 
mobile ;  his  mouth  particularly  so.     He  has  a  faculty  of 


12  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

contorting  that  feature  in  a  style  excessively  ludicrous, 
and  which  never  fails  to  provoke  uproarious  merriment. 
In  fact,  the  good  humor  that  gleams  in  his  eye,  and  lurks 
in  the  corners  of  his  mouth,  is  perfectly  irresistible.  His 
complexion  is  dark,  his  eyes  small  but  twinkling,  his  hair 
of  a  mingled  grey  and  brown,  his  nose  long  and  penetra- 
ting ;  his  whole  countenance  indicates  character,  and  is 
susceptible  of  an  expression  of  great  impressiveness,  all  the 
more  remarkable  from  the  contrast  with  the  extremely 
humorous  air  it  sometimes  assumes:  the  forehead  and 
nostrils,  to  a  physiognomist,  afford  sure  evidence  of 
thought.  He  is  tall  and  lank  in  figure  ;  at  once  elastic 
and  awkward  in  his  ordinary  movements,  but  when 
infused  with  that  profound  earnestness  he  so  often 
manifests,  all  his  gesticulation  is  appropriate ;  his  voice 
then  becomes  sharp  and  powerful,  his  movements  lose 
their  angularity,  and  that  magnetic  quality  seems  evolved 
that  is  only  found  in  natural  orators,  but  which  is 
more  effective  in  moving  or  swaying  the  passions  and 
sometimes  the  convictions  of  an  audience,  than  the  most 
elaborate  results  of  the  oratory  of  the  schools. 

The  quality  of  his  speeches  will  be  sufficiently  indica- 
ted in  this  volume  ;  they  are,  however,  eminently 
addressed  to  the  popular  mind.  Although  they  often 
contain  arguments  and  are  marked  by  peculiarities  that 
scholars  and  rhetoricians  will  appreciate,  their  eloquence 
is  natural,  their  rhetoric  unstudied.  The  language  is  not 
elegant,  but  frequently  has  ten  times  more  force  than  the 
carefully  rounded  periods  which  lose  their  point  by  being 
moulded  and  smoothed  so  persistently.  In  fact,  all  the 
peculiarities  and  excellencies  of  Abraham  Lincoln  are 
those  of  a  man  whose  life  has  been  spent  in  the  West ; 
who  has  made  himself,  who  is  accustomed  to  dealing  with 


The  Life  of  Abrani  Lincoln.  13 

men  of  all  sorts  and  conditions,  whose  talents  and  ener- 
gies are  undoubted  and  matured,  but  not  refined  or  highly 
cultivated.  His  personal  demeanor  is  of  the  same  sort. 
Those  who  have  known  him  best,  describe  him  as  genial, 
manly,  frank,  and  although  his  experiences  have  been  of 
the  roughest  kind,  free  from  many  of  the  habits  common 
among  his  associates.  He  neither  drinks,  nor  chews,  nor 
swears,  nor  smokes,  and  even  the  most  inveterate  advo- 
cate of  these  practices  will  acknowledge  that  such  absti- 
nence in  one  surrounded  by  his  associations,  is  an  indica- 
tion of  more  than  ordinary  firmness  and  independence  of 
character.  The  synonym  of  "  Honest  Old  Abe"  betrays 
the  estimation  put  upon  his  integrity,  and  conveys  also 
an  intimation  of  his  personal  popularity.  A  writer  in 
the  "  Evening  Post,"  speaks  thus  of  an  interview  with 
the  candidate  of  the  Eepublican  party : 

"  It  had  been  reported  by  some  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  poli- 
tical enemies  that  he  was  a  man  who  lived  in  the  '  lowest 
hoosier  style,'  and  I  thought  I  would  see  for  myself. 
Accordingly,  as  soon  as  the  business  of  the  Convention 
was  closed,  I  took  the  cars  for  Springfield.  I  found  Mr. 
Lincoln  living  in  a  handsome,  but  not  pretentious, 
double  two-story  frame  house,  having  a  wide  hall  run- 
ning through  the  centre,  with  parlors  on  both  sides, 
neatly,  but  not  ostentatiously,  furnished.  It  was  just 
such  a  dwelling  as  a  majority  of  the  well-to-do  residents 
of  these  fine  western  towns  occupy.  Every  thing  about  it 
had  a  look  of  comfort  and  independence.  The  library  I 
remarked  in  passing,  particularly,  and  I  was  pleased  to 
see  long  rows  of  books,  which  told  of  the  scholarly 
tastes  and  culture  of  the  family. 

"  Lincoln  received  us  with  great,  and  to  me,  surpris- 
ing urbanity.  I  had  seen  him  before  in  New  York,  and 
brought  with  me  an  impression  of  his  awkward  and 
ungainly   manner  ;  but   in   his  own   house,   where   he 


14  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

doubtless  feels  himself  freer  than  in  the  strange  New 
York  circles,  he  had  thrown  this  off,  and  appeared  easy, 
if  not  graceful.  He  is,  as  you  know,  a  tall,  lank  man, 
with  a  long  neck,  and  his  ordinar}*  movements  are  unu- 
sually angular,  even  out  west.  As  soon,  however,  as  he 
gets  interested  in  conversation,  his  face  lights  up  and  his 
attitudes  and  gestures  assume  a  certain  dignity  and' 
impressiveness.  His  conversation  is  fluent,  agreeable, 
and  polite.  You  see  at  once  from  it  that  he  is  a  man  of 
decided  and  original  character.  His  views  are  all  his 
own-;  such  as  he  has  worked  out  from  a  patient  and 
varied  scrutiny  of  life,  and  not  such  as  he  has  learned 
from  others.  Yet  he  cannot  be  called  opinionated.  He 
listens  to  others  like  one  eager  to  learn,  and  his  replies 
evince  at  the  same  time  both  modesty  and  self-reliance. 
I  should  say  that  sound  common  sense  was  the  principal 
quality  of  his  mind,  although  at  times  a  striking  phrase 
or  word  reveals  a  peculian  vein  of  thought.  He  tells  a 
story  well,  with  a  strong  idiomatic  smack,  and  seems  to 
relish  humor  both  in  himself  and  others.  Our  conversa- 
tion was  mainly  political,  but  of  a  general  nature.  One 
thing  Mr.  Lincoln  remarked  which  I  will  venture  to 
repeat.  He  said  that  in  the  coming  presidential  canvass 
he  was  wholly  uncommitted  to  any  cabals  or  cliques,  and 
that  he  meant  to  keep  himself  free  from  them,  and  from 
all  pledges  and  promises. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  early  political  advancement  was  not 
rapid,  for  he  espoused  the  cause  which  in  Illinois  was 
unpopular ;  when  he  entered  public  life  the  State  was 
decidedly  Jacksonian  ;  it  even  resisted  the  avalanche  of 
Whig  success,  which  in  1840  overwhelmed  the  country, 
and  carried  Harrison  triumphantly  to  Washington ;  it 
was  one  of  the  seven  States  that  then  cast  its  electoral 
vote  for  Van  Buren  ;  it  was  unfavorable  both  to  Clay 
and  to  Taylor,  and  to  this  day  has  never  elected  a  Whig 
to  the  United  States  Senate  ;  but  in  despite  of  all  these, 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  15 

that  to  a  man  bent  merely  on  personal  aggrandizement, 
would  have  been  effectual  reasons  for  changing  his  poli- 
tical relations,  Lincoln  remained  firm  in  the  faith  he  first 
professed.  His  Whig  comrades  appreciated  this  fidelity. 
He  was  only  thirty-five  when  chosen  to  head  the  Clay 
electoral  ticket — a  position  he  has  since  maintained, 
either  in  the  "Whig  or  Eepublican  party,  until  the  pre- 
sent year,  when  his  name  will  not  probably  be  included 
in  the  list.  He  has,  however,  never  but  once,  since  1844, 
been  a  candidate  for  any  other  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
people,  although  he  has  repeatedly  worked  in  behalf  of 
his  party,  stumping  the  state  at  every  Presidential  elec- 
tion with  vigor,  if  not  with  success. 

In  1846  he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the  Central 
District  of  Illinois  ;  he  was  the  only  Whig  in  the  state 
delegation  of  seven,  and  his  majority  (1511),  was  the 
largest  ever  given  in  that  District  to  any  candidate 
opposed  to  the  Democracy  ;  larger  even  than  that 
received  by  Gren.  Taylor,  and  twice  larger  than  Henry 
Clay's  ;  so  that  his  popularity  among  those  with  whom 
he  lived  may  be  fairly  affirmed.  During  the  first  session 
of  the  thirtieth  Congress  (that  only  in  which  he  served), 
he  made  three  important  speeches,  two  of  them  on  what 
are  now  forgotten  issues — the  Mexican  War,  and  the 
Presidential  canvass  of  1848  ;  in  the  former,  his  attack  on 
the  President  was  pungent,  and  severe,  and  logical ;  in 
the  latter,  his  Western  style  of  oratory  was  still  more 
fully  developed ;  on  each  occasion  he  maintained  with 
vigor  and  ability  the  views  of  the  Whig  party.  He  was 
a  warm  and  personal  friend  of  Henry  Clay,  and  advo- 
cated the  doctrines  advanced  by  that  statesman  with 
all  the  ardor  of  which  he  was  capable. 

The  following  resolutions  introduced  by  him  on  the 


1 6  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Mexican  War  question,  give  the  gist  of  the  ideas  that 
were  more  amply  set  forth  in  his  speech  of  a  few  weeks 
later. 


RESOLUTIONS. 

Mr.  Lincoln  moved  the  following  preambles  and 
resolutions,  which  were  read  and  laid  over  under  the 
rule : 

"  Whereas  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  his 
message  of  May  11,  1846,  has  declared  that  "  the  Mexican 
Government  not  only  refused  to  receive  him  (the  envoy 
of  the  United  States),  or  listen  to  his  propositions,  but 
after  a  long-continued  series  of  menaces,  have  at  last 
invaded  our  territory  and  shed  the  blood  of  our  fellow 
citizens  on  our  own  soil." 

And  again  in  his  message  of  December  8,  1846,  that 
"  we  had  ample  cause  of  war  against  Mexico  long  before 
the  breaking  out  of  hostilities,  but  even  then  we  forbore 
to  take  redress  into  our  own  hands  until  Mexico  herself 
became  the  aggressor,  by  invading  our  soil  in  hostile 
array,  and  shedding  the  blood  of  our  citizens." 

And  yet  again  in  the  message  of  December  7,  1847, 
that  "  the  Mexican  Government  refused  even  to  hear  the 
terms  of  adjustment  which  he  (our  minister  of  peace),  was 
authorized  to  propose,  and  finally,  under  wholly  unjusti- 
fiable pretexts,  involved  the  two  countries  in  war,  by 
invading  the  territory  of  the  State  of  Texas,  striking  the 
first  blow,  and  shedding  the  blood  of  our  citizens  on  our 
own  soil." 

And  whereas  this  House  is  desirous  to  obtain  a  full 
knowledge  of  all  the  facts  which  go  to  establish  whether 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  17 

the  particular  spot  on  which  the  blood  of  our  citizens 
was  so  shed,  was  or  was  not  at  that  time  our  own  soil. 
Therefore, 

Eesolved  by  the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  That  the 
President  of  the  United  States  be  respectfully  requested 
to  inform,  this  House, 

1st.  Whether  the  spot  on  which  the  blood  of  our 
citizens  was  shed,  as  in  his  messages  declared,  was  or 
was  not  within  the  Territory  of  Spain,  at  least  after  the 
treaty  of  1819,  until  the  Mexican  revolution. 

2nd.  Whether  that  spot  is  or  is  not  within  the  territory 
which  was  wrested  from  Spain  by  the  revolutionary 
Government  of  Mexico. 

3rd.  Whether  that  spot  is  or  is  not  within  a  settlement 
of  people,  which  settlement  has  existed  ever  since  long 
before  the  Texas  revolution,  and  until  its  inhabitants  fled 
before  the  approach  of  the  United  States  Army. 

4th.  Whether  that  settlement  is  or  is  not  isolated  from 
any  and  all  other  settlements  by  the  Gulf  and  the  Eio 
Grande,  on  the  south  and  west,  and  by  wide  uninhabited 
regions,  on  the  north-  and  east. 

5th.  Whether  the  people  of  that  settlement,  or  a 
majority  of  them,  or  any  of  them,  have  ever  submitted 
themselves  to  the  Government  or  laws  of  Texas  or  of  the 
United  States,  by  consent  or  by  compulsion,  either  by 
accepting  office,  or  voting  at  elections,  or  paying  tax,  or 
serving  on  juries,  or  having  process  served  upon  them, 
or  in  any  other  way. 

6th.  Whether  the  people  of  that  settlement  did  or  did 
not  flee  from  the  approach  of  the  United  States  army, 
leaving  unprotected  their  homes  and  their  growing  crops, 
before  the  blood  was  shed,  as  in  the  message  stated ;  and 
whether  the  first  blood,  so  shed,  was  or  was  not  shed 


18  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

within  the  enclosure  of  one  of  the  people  who  had  thus 
fled  from  it. 

7th.  Whether  our  citizens,  whose  blood  was  shed,  as 
in  hie  messages  declared,  were  or  were  not  at  that  time, 
armed  officers  and  soldiers,  sent  into  that  settlement  by 
the  military  order  of  the  President,  through  the  Secretary 
of  War. 

8th.  Whether  the  military  force  of  the  United  States 
was  or  was  not  so  sent  into  that  settlement  after  General 
Taylor  had  more  than  once  intimated  to  the  war  depart- 
ment that,  in  his  opinion,  no  such  movement  was  neces- 
sary to  the  defence  or  protection  of  Texas." 

The  speech  itself  that  was  made  in  favor  of  these 
resolutions  was  forcible,  both  logical  and  humorous  by 
turns,  and  a  successful  initiatory  effort  in  Lincoln's  con- 
gressional career.  It  was  followed  up  by  one  less  elaborate, 
on  the  Soldiers'  Bounty ;  and  on  the  4th  of  May,  1848, 
some  few  remarks  were  made  by  him  in  regard  to  the 
payment  by  government  for  the  horses  lost  in  the  war  by 
the  Texas  volunteers.  These  we  append  :  they  indicate 
Lincoln's  desire  for  fairness  in  the  distribution  of  govern- 
mental favors. 


SOLDIERS    BOUNTY. 

Mr.  Lincoln  said :  "  If  there  was  a  general  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  House  to  pass  the  bill  now,  he  should 
be  glad  to  have  it  done — concurring,  as  he  did  generally, 
with  the  gentleman  from  Arkansas  (Mr.  Johnson),  that 
the  postponement  might  jeopard  the  safety  of  the  pro- 
position. If,  however,  a  reference  was  to  be  made,  he 
wished  to  make  a  very  few  remarks  in  relation  to  the 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  19 

several  subjects  desired  by  gentlemen  to  be  embraced 
in  amendments  to  the  ninth  section  of  the  act  of  the  last 
session  of  Congress.  The  first  amendment  declared  by 
members  of  this  House,  had  for  its  only  object  to  give 
bounty  lands  to  such  persons  as  had  served  for  a  time 
as  privates,  but  had  never  been  discharged  as  such, 
because  promoted  to  office.  That  subject,  and  no  other, 
was  embraced  in  this  bill.  There  were  some  others 
who  desired,  while  they  were  legislating  on  this  subject, 
that  they  should  also  give  bounty  lands  to  the  volun- 
teers of  the  war  of  1812.  His  friend  from  Maryland 
said  there  were  no  such  men.  He  (Mr.  L.)  did  not  say 
there  were  many,  but  he  was  very  confident  there  were 
some.  His  friend  from  Kentucky,  near  him,  (Mr.  Gaines), 
told  him  he  himself  was  one. 

"  There  was  still  another  proposition  touching  this 
matter;  that  was,  that  persons  entitled  to  bounty  land, 
should,  by  law,  be  entitled  to  locate  those  lands  in 
parcels,  and  not  be  required  to  locate  them  in  one  body, 
as  was  provided  by  the  existing  law. 

"  Now  he  had  carefully  drawn  up  a  bill  embracing 
these  three  separate  propositions,  which  he  intended  to 
propose  as  a  substitute  for  all  these  bills  in  the  House, 
or  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  State  of  the  Union, 
at  some  suitable  time.  If  there  was  a  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  House  to  act  at  once  on  this  separate 
proposition,  he  repeated  that,  with  the  gentleman  from 
Arkansas,  he  should  prefer  it,  lest  they  should  lose  all. 
But  if  there  was  to  be  a  reference,  he  desired  to  intro- 
duce his  Bill  embracing  the  three  propositions,  thus 
enabling  the  Committee  and  the  House  to  act  at  the 
same  time,  whether  favorably  or  unfavorably  upon  all." 


20  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 


TEXAS    VOLUNTEERS. 

Mat  4,  1848. 

Mr.  Lincoln  said,  "  The  objection  started  by  the  gen- 
tleman from  Missouri  (Mr.  Hall),  struck  him  as  being  a 
sound  one ;  and  he  wished  to  ascertain  if  there  "was  any 
thing  further  to  be  learned  about  this  claim,  for  he 
desired  fully  to  understand  it.  He  understood  that  the 
volunteers  who  served  in  Mexico  were  not  by  any  gene- 
ral law  entitled  to  pay  for  lost  horses,  and  he  understood 
that  if  this  resolution  should  pass,  the  Texas  volunteers 
would  be  entitled  to  compensation  for  lost  horses.  Thus 
they  would  be  placed  in  more  favorable  circumstances 
than  others." 

Mr.  Lincoln  also  said,  "  The  payment  for  these  lost  horses 
came  within  a  class  of  cases  in  which  he  was  a  good  deal 
like  a  gentleman  near  him,  who  was  in  favor  of  paying 
for  everything  by  way  of  being  sure  of  paying  all  those 
that  were  right.  But  if  this  resolution  should  be  passed, 
and  the  general  law  should  fail,  then  everybody  but 
these  Texas  volunteers  would  go  without  their  compen- 
sation. He  was  not  willing  to  do  any  thing  that  would 
produce  such  a  result.  He  preferred  placing  the  Texas 
volunteers  on  a  level  with  all  other  volunteers,  and  there- 
fore, he  should  vote  for  the  reconsideration." 

Lincoln's  penetration  and  acumen  are  apparent  in  the 
following  terse  remarks,  which  are  so  lucid  and  compre- 
hensive that  they  require  no  explanation. 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  21 


VTBGINIA    COUETS. 

June  28,  1848. 

Mr.  Lincoln  said,  "  He  felt  unwilling  to  be  either 
unjust  or  ungenerous,  and  he  wanted  to  understand  the 
real  case  of  this  Judicial  officer.  The  gentleman  from 
Virginia  had  stated  that  he  had  to  hold  eleven  courts. 
Now,  everybody  knew  that  it  was  not  the  habit  of  the 
district  Judges  of  the  United  States  in  other  states  to 
hold  any  thing  like  that  number  of  courts;  and  he  there- 
fore took  it  for  granted  that  this  must  happen  under  a 
peculiar  law,  which  required  that  a  large  number  of  courts 
be  holden  every  year ;  and  these  laws  he  further  sup- 
posed were  passed  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  that 
Judicial  District.  It  came,  then,  to  this :  that  the  people 
in  the  Western  District  of  Virginia  had  got  eleven  Courts 
to  be  held  among  them  in  one  year,  for  their  own  accom- 
modation ;  and  being  thus  better  accommodated  than 
their  neighbors  elsewhere,  they  wanted  their  Judge  to  be 
a  little  better  paid.  In  Illinois,  there  had  been,  until 
the  present  season,  but  one  District  Court  held  in  the 
year.  There  were  now  to  be  two.  Could  it  be  that  the 
Western  District  of  Virginia  furnished  more  business  for 
a  Judge  than  the  whole  State  of  Illinois." 

The  following  views  on  the  price  of  public  lands  seem 
eminently  just,  and  are  interesting,  as  coming  from  one 
who  may  hereafter  be  very  influential  in  administering 
laws  similar  to  that  which  he  here  discusses. 


/ 


22  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 


THE   PUBLIC  LANDS. 

Mat  11,  1848. 

Mr  Lincoln  moved  to  reconsider  the  vote  by  which 
the  bill  was  passed.  He  stated  to  the  House  that  he  had 
made  this  motion  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  an  oppor- 
tunity to  say  a  few  words  in  relation  to  a  point  raised  in 
the  course  of  the  debate  on  this  bill,  which  he  would  now 
proceed  to  make,  if  in  order.  The  point  in  the  case  to 
which  he  referred,  arose  on  the  amendment  that  was  sub- 
mitted by  the  gentleman  from  Vermont  (Mr.  Collamer), 
in  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  State  of  the  Union,  and 
which  was  afterwards  renewed  in  the  House,  in  relation 
to  the  question  whether  the  res  erved  sections,  which,  by 
some  bills  heretofore  passed,  by  which  an  appropriation 
of  land  had  been  made  to  Wisconsin,  had  been  enhanced 
in  value,  should  be  reduced  to  the  minimum  price  of  the 
public  lands.  The  question  of  the  reduction  in  value 
of  those  sections  was,  to  him,  at  this  time,  a  matter  very 
nearly  of  indifference.  He  was  inclined  to  desire  that 
Wisconsin  should  be  obliged  by  having  it  reduced.  But 
the  gentleman  from  Indiana  (Mr.  .C.  B.  Smith),  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  the  Territories,  yesterday  asso- 
ciated that  question  with  the  general  question,  which  is 
now,  to  some  extent,  agitated  in  Congress,  of  making 
appropriations  of  alternate  sections  of  land  to  aid  the 
States  in  making  internal  improvements,  and  enhancing 
the  prices  of  the  section  reserved,  and  the  gentleman  from 
Indiana  took  ground  against  that  policy.  He  did  not 
make  any  special  argument  in  favor  of  Wisconsin ;  but 
he  took  ground  generally  against  the  policy  of  giving 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  23 

alternate  sections  of  land,  and  enhancing  the  price  of  the 
reserved  sections.  Now,  he  (Mr.  L.)  did  not  at  this 
time,  take  the  floor  for  the  purpose  of  attempting  to  make 
an  argument  on  the  general  subject.  He  rose  simply  to 
protest  against  the  doctrine  which  the  gentleman  from 
Indiana  had  avowed  in  the  course  of  what  he  (Mr.  L.) 
could  not  but  consider  an  unsound  argument. 

It  might  however  be  true,  for  anything  he  knew,  that 
the  gentleman  from  Indiana  might  convince  him  that 
his  argument  was  sound ;  but  he  (Mr.  L.)  feared  that 
gentleman  would  not  be  able  to  convince  a  majority  in 
Congress  that  it  was  sound.  It  was  true,  the  question 
appeared  in  a  different  aspect  to  persons  in  consequence 
of  a  difference  in  the  point  from  which  they  looked  at  it. 
It  did  not  look  to  persons  residing  east  of  the  mountains 
as  it  did  to  those  who  lived  among  the  public  lands. 
But,  for  his  part,  he  would  state  that  if  Congress  would 
make  a  donation  of  alternate  sections  of  public  lands  for 
the  purpose  of  internal  improvement  in  his  state,  and 
forbid  the  reserved  sections  being  sold  at  $1.25,  he  should 
be  glad  to  see  the  appropriation  made,  though  he  should 
prefer  it  if  the  reserved  sections  were  not  enhanced  in 
price.  He  repeated,  he  should  be  glad  to  have  such  ap- 
propriations made,  even  though  the  reserved  sections 
should  be  enhanced  in  price.  He  did  not  wish  to  be  un- 
derstood as  concurring  in  any  intimation  that  they  would 
refuse  to  receive  such  an  appropriation  of  alternate  sec- 
tions of  land  because  a  condition  enhancing  the  price  of 
the  reserved  sections  should  be  attached  thereto.  He  be- 
lieved his  position  would  now  be  understood,  if  not,  he 
feared  he  should  not  be  able  to  make  himself  under- 
stood. 

But  before  he  took  his  seat  he  would  remark  that  the 


/ 


24  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Senate,  during  the  present  session,  had  passed  a  bill 
making  appropriations  of  land  on  that  principle  for  the 
benefit  of  the  State  in  which  he  resided — the  State  of 
Illinois.  The  alternate  sections  were  to  be  given  for  the 
purpose  of  constructing  roads,  and  the  reserved  sections 
were  to  be  enhanced  in  value  in  consequence.  When 
the  bill  came  here  for  the  action  of  this  House,  it  had 
been  received,  and  was  now  before  the  Committee  on 
Public  Lands — he  desired  much  to  see  it  passed  as  it  was, 
if  it  could  be  put  in  a  more  favorable  form  for  the  State 
of  Illinois.  When  it  should  be  before  this  House,  if  any 
member  from  a  section  of  the  Union  in  which  these 
lands  did  not  lie,  whose  interest  might  be  less  than  that 
which  he  felt,  should  propose  a  reduction  of  the  price  of 
the  reserved  sections  to  $1.25,  he  should  be  much  obliged ; 
but  he  did  not  think  it  would  be  well  for  those  who  came 
from  the  section  of  the  Union  in  which  the  lands  lay,  to 
do  so.  He  wished  it,  then,  to  be  understood,  that  he  did 
not  join  in  the  warfare  against  the  principle  which  had 
engaged  the  minds  of  some  members  of  Congress  who 
were  favorable  to  improvements  in  the  western  country. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  force,  he  admitted,  in  what 
fell  from  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Territories. 
It  might  be  that  there  was  no  precise  justice  in  raising 
the  price  of  the  reserved  sections  to  $2.50  per  acre.  It 
might  be  proper  that  the  price  should  be  enhanced  to 
some  extent,  though  not  to  double  the  usual  price ;  but 
he  should  be  glad  to  have  such  an  appropriation  with 
the  reserved  sections  at  $2.50 ;  he  should  be  better 
pleased  to  have  the  price  of  those  sections  at  something 
less ;  and  he  should  be  still  better  pleased  to  have  them 
without  any  enhancement  at  all. 

There  was  one  portion  of  the  argument  of  the  gentle- 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  25 

man  from  Indiana,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Territories  (Mr.  Smith),  which  he  wished  to  take  occasion 
to  say  that  he  did  not  view  as  unsound.  He  alluded  to 
the  statement  that  tlie  General  Government  was  inte- 
rested in  these  internal  improvements  being  made,  inas- 
much as  they  increased  the  value  of  the  lands  that  were 
unsold,  and  they  enabled  the  Government  to  sell  lands 
which  could  not  be  sold  without  them.  Thus,  then,  the 
Government  gained  by  internal  improvements,  as  well 
as  by  the  general  good  which  the  people  derived  from 
them,  and  it  might  be,  therefore,  that  the  lands  should 
not  be  sold  for  more  than  $1.50,  instead  of  the  price 
being  doubled.  He,  however,  merely  mentioned  this  in 
passing,-  for  he  only  rose  to  state,  as  the  principle  of 
giving  these  lands  for  the  purposes  which  he  had  men- 
tioned had  been  laid  hold  of  and  considered^  favorably, 
and  as  there  were  some  gentlemen  who  had  constitutional 
scruples  about  giving  money  for  these  purposes,  who 
would  not  hesitate  to  give  land,  that  he  was  not  willing 
to  have  it  understood  that  he  was  one  of  those  who  made 
war  against  that  principle.  This  was  all  he  desired  to 
say,  and  having  accomplished  the  object  with  which  he 
rose,  he  withdrew  his  motion  to  reconsider." 

The  other  speeches  made  at  this  session  were  a  strong 
one  in  favor  of  internal  improvements,  and  a  witty  party 
speech  to  which  we  have  already  alluded. 

At  this  time  the  two  houses  of  Congress  were  crowded 
with  men  of  ability  :  Hamlin,  who  is  now  running  with 
Lincoln  on  the  same  ticket ;  Houston,  who  at  one  time 
seemed  likely  to  be  his  opponent  in  the  present  Presi- 
dential canvass  ;  Hunter,  of  Virginia  ;  Eeverdy  Johnson, 
Calhoun,  Dickinson,  Bell,  the  nominee  of  the  Third 
party,  Douglas,  Webster,  Seward,  Cass,  Shields,  Benton, 


26  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Clayton,  Corwin,  Cameron,  weite  in  the  Senate;  and  in 
the  House,  Jefferson  Davis,  John  Quincy  Adams,  Wil- 
mot,  Toombs,  Giddings,  Greeley,  Washington  Hunt,  and 
others  who  have  since  attained  distinction,  were  his  com- 
peers. This  was  the  session  when  the  famous  "Wilmot 
proviso  was  introduced,  and  Lincoln  voted  forty-two 
times  in  its  favor.  He  was,  as  we  have  said,  the  only 
"Whig  in  the  delegation  from  Illinois,  and  upheld  the 
cause  of  his  party  manfully  ;  the  various  questions  of  the 
Mexican  War,  the  Texas  Boundary,  the  Oregon  Bill, 
and  the  Harbor  Improvements,  as  they  by  turns  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  Congress,  afforded  him  ample  oppor- 
tunities for  studying  public  affairs ;  and  it  is  probable 
that  their  discussion,  and  the  contact  with  so  many  minds 
of  first  rate  calibre,  had  an  influence  on  his  own  intellect, 
developing  and  maturing  its  powers.  He  thus  early  in 
his  career  took  the  stand  which  he  has  ever  since  main- 
tained with  the  opponents  of  slavery  :  his  opposition  to 
the  Mexican  war,  his  voting  for  the  Wilmot  proviso,  his 
speeches  and  votes,  all  were  precursors  of  the  bill  he 
brought  in,  during  the  second  session  of  the  thirtieth 
Congress,  providing  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  under  certain  restrictions,  the  aboli- 
tion to  be  consummated  only  when  the  inhabitants  of  the 
District  should  vote  in  its  favor.  The  resolutions,  and  a 
few  remarks  made  by  him  in  presenting  them,  we  here 
append : 

Jan.  10,  1849. — In  the  debate  on  the  slave  trade  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  Mr.  Lincoln  introduced  an 
amendment  to  a  bill  before  the  House. 

Mr.  L.  read  as  follows: 

Strike  out  all  after  the  word  "  resolved,"  and  insert 
the  following — 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  27 

"  That  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia  be 
instructed  to  report  a  bill  in  substance,  as  follows : 

Sec.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assem- 
bled, That  no  person  not  now  within  the  District  of 
Columbia,  nor  now  owned  by  any  person  or  persons 
now  resident  within  it,  nor  hereafter  born  within  it,  shall 
ever  be  held  in  slavery  within  said  District. 

Sec.  2.  That  no  person  now  within  said  District,  or 
now  owned  by  any  person  or  persons  now  resident 
within  the  same,  or  hereafter  born  within  it,  shall  ever 
be  held  in  slavery  without  the  limits  of  said  District : 
Provided,  That  officers  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  being  citizens  of  the  slaveholding  States,  coming 
into  said  District  on  public  business,  and  remaining  only 
so  long  as  may  be  reasonably  necessary  for  that  object, 
may  be  attended  into  and  out  of  said  District,  and  while 
there,  by  the  necessary  servants  of  themselves  and 
their  families,  without  their  right  to  hold  such  servants 
in  service  being  impaired. 

Sec.  3.  That  all  children  born  of  slave  mothers  within 
said  District,  on  or  after  the  1st  day  of  January,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1850,  shall  be  free ;  but  shall  be 
reasonably  supported  and  educated  by  the  respective 
owners  of  their  mothers,  or  by  their  heirs  or  represen- 
tatives, and  shall  serve  reasonable  service  as  apprentices 
to  such  owners,   heirs,  or   representatives,  until   they 

respectively  arrive  at  the  age  of years,  when  they 

shall  be  entirely  free  :  And  the  municipal  authorities  of 
"Washington  and  Georgetown,  within  their  respective 
jurisdictional  limits,  are  hereby  empowered  and  required 
to  make  all  suitable  and  necessary  provision  for  enforc- 


28  Tha  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

ing  obedience  to  this  section,  on  the  part  of  both  masters 
and  apprentices. 

Sec.  4.  That  all  persons  now  within  this  District,  law- 
fully held  as  slaves,  or  now  owned  by  any  person  or 
persons  now  resident  within  said  District,  shall  remain 
such  at  the  will  of  their  respective  owners,  their  heirs 
or  legal  representatives :  Provided  that  such  owner,  or 
his  legal  representatives,  may  at  any  time  receive  from 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  the  full  value  of  his 
or  her  slave,  of  the  class  in  this  section  mentioned,  upon 
which  such  slave  shall  be  forthwith  and  for  ever  free : 
And  provided  further,  That  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  shall  be  a  board  for  determining  the  value  of 
such  slaves  as  their  owners  desire  to  emancipate  under 
this  section,  and  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  hold  a  session 
for  the  purpose  on  the  first  Monday  of  each  calendar 
month,  to  receive  all  applications,  and,  on  satisfactory 
evidence  in  each  case  that  the  person  presented  for 
valuation  is  a  slave,  and  of  the  class  in  the  section  men- 
tioned, and  is  owned  by  the  applicant,  shall  value  such 
slave  at  his  or  her  full  cash  value,  and  give  to  the  appli- 
cant an  order  on  the  Treasury  for  the  amount,  and  also 
to  such  slave  a  certificate  of  freedom. 

Sec.  5.  That  the  municipal  authorities  of  "Washington 
and  Georgetown,  within  their  respective  jurisdictional 
limits,  are  hereby  empowered  and  required  to  provide 
active  and  efficient  means  to  arrest  and  deliver  up  to 
their  owners  all  fugitive  slaves  escaping  into  said  District* 

Sec.  6.  That  the  elective  officers  within  said  District 
of  Columbia  are  hereby  empowered  and  required  to  open 
polls  at  all  the  usual  places  of  holding  elections,  on  the 
first  Monday  of  April  next,  and  receive  the  vote  of 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  29 

every  free  white  male  citizen  above  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years,  having  resided  within  said  District  for  the 
period  of  one  year  or  more  next  preceding  the  time  of 
such  voting  for  or  against  this  act,  to  proceed  in  taking 
said  votes  in  all  respects  not  herein  specified,  as  at 
elections  under  the  municipal  laws,  and  with  as  little 
delay  as  possible  to  transmit  correct  statements  of  the 
votes  so  cast  to  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  and 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  President  to  count  such  votes 
immediately,  and  if  a  majority  of  them  be  found  to  be 
for  this  act,  to  forthwith  issue  his  proclamation  giving 
notice  of  the  fact ;  and  this  act  shall  only  be  in  full 
force  and  effect  on  and  after  the  day  of  such  procla- 
mation. 

Sec.  7.  That  involuntary  servitude  for  the  punish- 
ment of  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  shall  in  nowise  be  prohibited  by  this  act. 

Sec.  8.  That  for  all  purposes  of  this  act,  the  juris- 
dictional limits  of  Washington  are  extended  to  all  parts 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  not  included  within  the 
present  limits  of  Georgetown." 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  said,  "  that  he  was  authorized  to  say 
that  of  about  fifteen  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  to  whom  this  proposition  had  been  submitted, 
there  was  not  one  but  who  approved  of  such  a  proposi- 
tion. He  did  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood.  He  did  not 
know  whether  or  not  they  would  vote  for  his  bill  on  the 
first  Monday  of  April ;  but  he  repeated  that  out  of  fifteen 
persons  to  whom  it  had  been  submitted,  he  had  authority 
to  say  that  every  one  of  them  desired  that  some  such 
proposition  as  this  should  pass." 

While  a  member  of  Congress,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected 


30  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

to  the  Whig  Nominating  Convention  of  1848 ;  before 
which  he  advocated  the  claims  of  Gen.  Taylor  to  the 
presidency,  and  after  the  nomination  he  was  persistent 
in  his  efforts  to  accomplish  the  election  of  his  favorite 
candidate.  And,  without  much  conceit,  a  resemblance 
may  in  many  things  be  traced  between  the  characters,  if 
not  the  careers,  of  Eough  and  Keady  and  Honest  old  Abe ; 
they  might  exchange  epithets  appropriately.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's district  gave  Taylor  a  heavier  majority  than  any 
other  Whig  but  Lincoln  himself  was  ever  honored  by, 
in  that  quarter  of  the  country ;  the  result  doubtless  in 
some  measure  of  his  persevering  ardor  and  energy. 

In  1849  he  was  a  candidate  before  the  Illinois  legisla- 
ture for  United  States  Senator,  but  the  Democrats  were 
in  the  majority  and  Gen.  Shields  was  elected  over  Lin- 
coln ;  in  1852  he  was  a  warm  supporter  of  Gen.  Scott, 
and  looked  upon  by  the  Whigs  of  Illinois  as  one  of  their 
most  efficient  leaders. 

After  his  retirement  from  Congress,  Mr.  Lincoln  took 
no  prominent  part  in  politics  for  a  number  of  years.  His 
private  affairs  claimed  his  attention  ;  he  had  married,  his 
family  was  increasing,  but  he  was  not  rich,  and  is  not  so 
to-day ;  he  therefore  devoted  himself  very  assiduously  to 
the  pursuit  of  his  profession  until  1854,  when  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  consequent  wide-spread 
agitation  throughout  the  country,  drew  him  again  into  the 
arena  of  politics.  As  might  have  been  predicted  by  any 
one  familiar  with  his  previous  sentiments  and  course,  he 
vigorously  opposed  the  Nebraska  bill ;  he  took  the  stump 
against  its  author,  Mr.  Douglas,  and  battled  it  with  im- 
mense energy.  The  efforts  of  its  opponents  were  in  some 
measure  successful  in  Illinois,  and  for  the  first  time  a 
majority  of  the  legislature  about  to  elect  a  United  States 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  31 

Senator  was  unfavorable  to  the  democratic  party.  Nine- 
tenths  of  this  majority  were  Whigs,  and  desired  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's elevation  to  the  vacant  seat  in  the  upper  House  of 
Congress,  but  the  other  tenth  had  been  Democrats  and 
were  unwilling  to  cast  their  votes  for  a  Whig.  The 
republican  party  was  then  only  in  its  conception ;  the 
various  elements  of  an  opposition  were  chaotic,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  manage  skilfully  in  order  to  accomplish 
their  coalescence.  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  earnestly  entreated 
his  political  friends  to  give  up  their  preference  for  him. 
He  succeeded  in  inducing  them  to  vote  for  Judge  Trum- 
bull, an  anti-Nebraska  Democrat,  who  was  thus  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  This  was  in  1855,  and  indicates 
both  the  pre-eminence  Mr.  Lincoln  had  won  among  those 
who  had  been  his  allies  for  so  long,  and  the  amount  of 
his  influence  with  them  ;  first  in  that  they  should  have 
selected  him  for  so  high  a  position  over  such  men  as 
Yates,  Logan,  Grimshaw,  and  Browning ;  and  next  that 
he  should  have  been  able  to  persuade  them  to  waive  that 
preference  and  cast  their  votes  as  he  desired.  It  also 
pointed  to  the  importance  he  was  likely  to  attain  in  the 
counsels  of  the  new  party,  though  the  absolute  leadership 
of  that  party  doubtless  then  seemed  entirely  beyond  his 
ambition.  However,  at  the  first  Republican  National 
Convention,  at  Cincinnati,  in  the  following  year,  the 
delegates  from  Illinois  presented  his  name  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  thus  signifying  the  hold  he  had  upon  their 
respect  and  regard.  He  also  headed  the  Fremont  elec- 
toral ticket  in  that  State,  at  the  ensuing  election,  and 
worked  earnestly  and  persistently  in  support  of  the  ticket 
during  the  canvass. 

His   name,   however  .popular  in   Illinois,  and  well- 
known    throughont    the    entire   North-West,   did   not 


32  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

become  national  until  the  furious  contest  between  him- 
self and  Douglas  in  1858,  whose  fame  has  already 
spread  throughout  the  country,  but  is  now  destined  to 
become  still  more  familiar  to  all,  of  every  phase  of 
politics,  who  take  an  interest  in  public  affairs.  The 
course  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  in  Congress  had  pro- 
voked everywhere  the  most  remarkable  difference  of 
opinion,  and  excited  in  every  quarter  of  the  land  the 
most  intense  political  strife  ;  but  no  where  was  the  agi- 
tation and  excitement  more  intense  than  in  his  own 
state  of  Illinois.  The  two  old  parties  were  both  dis- 
rupted ;  the  Whigs  and  a  portion  of  the  Democrats 
concurred  in  a  reprehension  of  Mr.  Douglas's  con- 
duct ;  the  Administration  was,  for  its  own  reasons,  bit- 
terly opposed  to  him  :  while,  on  the  other  hand,  his 
personal  influence  and  popularity,  which  had  always 
been  enormous,  the  fact  that  he  was  regarded  by  many 
as  the  destined  victim  of  governmental  spite  and  the 
representative  of  sturdy  political  independence,  toge- 
ther with  the  immense  strength  of  party  affiliations 
and  associations,  conspired  to  give  him  hosts  of 
followers.  His  term  of  office  in  the  Senate  had 
expired,  and  the  legislature  was  to  be  elected  which 
should  appoint  his  successor.  A  re-appointment  would 
be  to  him  an  endorsement  by  his  own  State,  and  a  pre- 
sentation to  the  Democratic  party  of  his  claims  for  the 
Presidency.  This  fact  was  thoroughly  understood  by 
himself,  by  the  politicians  of  all  sorts  and  grades,  and 
by  the  country.  The  Republicans,  therefore,  deter- 
mined to  make  a  great  struggle,  and,  if  possible,  defeat 
him  on  his  own  ground.  At  their  nominating  conven- 
tion at  Springfield,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  unanimously  desig- 
nated  the  Republican  candidate  for  Senator ;  he  was 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  33 

also  desired  to  stump  the  State  as  the  representative 
man  of  the  Republican  doctrine. 

The  contest  which  ensued  was  one  of  the  most  hardly 
fought  that  has  ever  occurred  in  our  political  history. 
The  State  was  stumped  with  extraordinary  thorough- 
ness, both  candidates  taking  the  field,  arguing  the 
whole  matter  with  all  the  powers  of  logic,  and  wit,  and 
eloquence  at  their  command,  while  the  country  looked 
on  eagerly  for  the  result,  and  the  population  of  the 
state  attended  to  hear  the  arguments  of  the  two 
rivals,  and  determine  for  themselves  how  they  should 
act.  Each  had  warm  friends  ;  each  was  emphatically 
the  representative  of  a  great  party  and  of  a  great  prin- 
ciple ;  personal  feelings  were  concerned,  and  a  great 
public  question  of  the  very  highest  consequence  was  at 
issue.  What  gave  the  strife  a  very  peculiar  aspect,  im- 
parting additional  intensity  and  interest,  was  the  fact  that 
the  two  candidates  repeatedly  discussed  the  mooted  ques- 
tions in  each  other's  presence.  The  ability  manifested  by 
each  on  these  occasions  was  marked,  and  is  acknow- 
ledged by  his  opponent.  It  is,  in  fact,  impossible 
to  imagine  any  stronger  illustration  of  Democratic  insti- 
tutions, any  more  remarkable  feature  of  American  life 
and  character,  than  this  appeal  to  the  people  by  the 
champions  of  two  great  opposing  parties.  Instead  of 
wheedling  at  courts,  or  intriguing  in  cabinets,  or  writing 
diplomatic  notes,  or  bargaining  for  office  and  emolu- 
ments, or  even  arguing  in  senates,  and  convincing 
educated  and  talented  assemblies  ;  here  were  two  meo 
both  sprung  from  the  people,  both  possessed  of 
remarkable  energy  of  character,  both  elevated  to  the 
leadership  of  their  respective  parties ;  one  had  long  been 
prominent  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  had  been  often 


34  Th*  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

an  aspirant  for  the  highest  position  in  the  country  ;  he  had 
initiated  a  measure  which  provoked  the  wildest  and  pro- 
foundest  opposition  of  any  political  act  in  this  century  ; 
he  had,  nevertheless,  succeeded  in  carrying  that  mea- 
sure, and  now  he  came  to  the  people,  the  rough,  com- 
mon people  of  Western  Illinois,  the  farmers  and  back- 
woodsmen, to  support  hirn,  to  endorse  him,  to  main- 
tain him.  By  their  verdict  he  must  stand  or  fall ;  to 
them  he  argued  his  case ;  before  them  personally  he 
pleaded  his  cause.  His  antagonist  also  was  present,  and 
accused  him  to  his  face  of  political  crimes ;  and  day 
after  day,  and  night  after  night,  in  town  after  town,  the 
competitors  strove  before  the  mighty  jury  of  the  people 
for  the  mastery.  No  struggle  in  the  Olympic  games,  no 
contest  in  senatf  chambers  of  ancient  Rome,  or  in  par- 
liament of  modern  Britain,  was  ever  more  remarkable, 
or  listened  to  or  looked  u^on  by  more  attentive  crowds. 
From  June  to  November  the  canvass  continued;  at 
seven  different  places  the  debate  was  held  between  the 
champions. 

At  Springfield,  after  his  nomination,  which  was 
singular,  because  senators,  not  being  elected  by  the 
people,  are  not  usually  nominated  by  conventions, — 
at  Springfield,  Mr.  Lincoln  read  a  speech,  which  had 
been  carefully  prepared,  and  which  was  accepted 
throughout  the  country,  by  his  party,  as  an  exposition 
of  the  views  and  aims  of  Republicanism.  It  follows 
here,  and  those  who  wish  to  be  thoroughly  informed  of 
the  peculiarities  of  the  party  of  which  Abram  Lincoln 
is  now  standard-bearer  and  chief,  will  do  well  to  study 
its  pages.  This  speech  is  also  remarkable  as  containing 
the  famous  declaration  which  preceded  even  that  made 
by  Senator  Seward,  at  Rochester,  that  "  a  house  divided 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  35 

against  itself  cannot  stand."  What  Lincoln  really 
said,  and  what  he  meant  can  now  be  directly  ascer- 
tained. 


SPEECH  OF  HON.  ABRAM  LINCOLN. 

Springfield,  June  11,  1858. 

Me.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  : 
If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  and  whither  we 
are  tending,  we  could  better  judge  what  to  So,and  how 
to  do  it.  We  are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year,  since  a 
policy  was  initiated  with  the  avowed  object,  and  confi- 
dent promise,  of  putting  an  end  to  slavery  agitation. 
Under  the  operation  of  that  policy,  that  agitation  has 
not  only  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  augmented.  In 
my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease,  until  a  crisis  shall  have 
been  reached  and  passed.  "  A  house  divided  against 
itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  this  government  cannot 
endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not 
expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect  the 
house  to  fall — but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divi- 
ded. It  will  become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the  other. 
Either  the  opponents  of  shivery  will  arrest  the  further 
spreau  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall 
rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate 
extinction  ;  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward,  till  it 
shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as  well 
as  new — North  as  well  as  South. 

Have  we  no  tendency  to  the  latter  condition  ? 

Let  any  one  who  doubts,  carefully  contemplate  that 
now  almost  complete  legal  combination — piece  of 
machinery,  so  to  speak — compounded  of  the  .Nebraska 
doctrine,  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision.  Let  him  con- 
sider not  only  what  work  the  machinery  is  adapted  to 
do,  and  how  well  adapted  ;  but  also,  let  him  study  the 
history"  of  its  construction,  and  trace,  if  he  can,  or  rather 
fail,  if  he  can,  to  trace  the  evidences  of  design,  and  con- 


36  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

cert  of  action,  among  its  chief  architects,  from  the 
beginning. 

The  new  year  of  1854  found  slavery  excluded  from 
more  than  half  the  States  by  State  Constitutions,  and 
from  most  of  the  national  territory  by  Congressional 
prohibition.  Four  days  later,  commenced  the  struggle 
which  ended  in  repealing  that  Congressional  prohibi- 
tion. This  opened  all  the  national  territory  to  slavery, 
and  was  the  first  point  gained. 

But,  so  far,  Congress  only  had  acted  ;  and  an  indorse- 
ment by  the  people,  real  or  apparent,  was  indispensa- 
ble, to  save  the  point  already  gained,  and  give  chance 
for  more. 

This  necessity  had  not  been  overlooked  ;  but  had 
been  provided  for,  as  well  as  might  be,  in  the  notable 
argument  of  "  squatter  sovereignty,"  otherwise  called 
"  sacred  right  of  self-government,"  which  latter  phrase, 
though  expressive  of  the  only  rightful  basis  of  any 
government,  was  so  perverted  in  this  attempted  use  of 
it  as  to  amount  to  just  this  :  That  if  any  one  man  choose 
to  enslave  another,  no  third  man  shall  be  allowed  to 
object.  That  argument  was  incorporated  into  the 
Nebraska  bill  itself,  in  the  language  which  follows : 
"  It  being  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  this  act  not 
to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  nor  to 
exclude  it  therefrom  ;  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof 
perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic  insti- 
tutions in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States."  Then  opened  the  roar  of 
loose  declamation  in  favor  of  "  Squatter  Sovereignty," 
and  "sacred  right  of  self-government."  "But,"  said 
opposition  members,  "  let  us  amend  the  bill  so  as  to 
expressly  declare  that  the  people  of  the  Territory  may 
exclude  slavery."  "  Not  we,"  said  the  friends  of  the 
measure  ;  and  down  they  voted  the  amendment. 

While  the  Nebraska  bill  was  passing  through  Con- 
gress, a  law  case  involving  the  question  of  a  negro's 
freedom,  by  reason  of  his  owner  having  voluntarily 
taken  him  first  into  a  free  State  and  then  into  a  Terri- 
tory  covered  by   the   Congressional   prohibition,   and 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  37 

held  him  as  a  slave  for  a  long  time  in  each,  was  passing 
through  the  U.  S.  Circuit  Court  for  the  District  of 
Missouri  ;  and  both  Nebraska  bill  and  law  suit  were 
brought  to  a  decision  in  the  same  month  of  May,  1854. 
The  negro's  name  was  "Dred  Scott,"  which  name  now 
designated  the  decision  finally  made  in  the  case.  Before 
the  then  next  Presidential  election,  the  law  case  came 
to,  and  was  argued  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States;  but  the  decision  of  it  was  deferred  until  after 
the  election.  Still,  before  the  election,  Senator  Trum- 
bull, on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  requested  the  leading 
advocate  of  the  Nebraska  bill  to  state  his  opinion 
whether  the  people  of  a  Territory  can  constitutionally 
exclude  slavery  from  their  limits ;  and  the  latter 
answers  :  u  That  is  a  question  for  the  Supreme  Court." 

The  election  came.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  elected,  and 
the  endorsement,  such  as  it  was,  secured.  That  was  the 
second  point  gained.  The  endorsement,  however,  fell 
short  of  a  clear  popular  majority  by  nearly  four  hun- 
dred thousand  votes,  and  so,  perhaps,  was  not  over- 
whelmingly reliable  and  satisfactory.  The  outgoing 
President,  in  his  last  annual  message,  as  impressively 
as  possible  echoed  back  upon  the  people  the  weight  and 
authority  of  the  endorsement.  The  Supreme  Court  met 
again  ;  did  not  announce  their  decision,  but  ordered  a 
re-argument.  The  Presidential  inauguration  came,  and 
still  no  decison  of  the  court ;  but  the  incoming  Presi- 
dent in  his  inaugural  address,  fervently  exhorted  the 
people  to  abide  by  the  forthcoming  decision,  whatever 
it  might  be.     Then,  in  a  few  days,  came  the  decision. 

The  reputed  author  of  the  Nebraska  bill  finds  an 
early  occasion  to  make  a  speech  at  this  capital  endorsing 
the  Dred  Scott  decision,  and  vehemently  denouncing  all 
opposition  to  it.  The  new  President,  too,  seizes  the 
early  occasion  of  the  Silliman  letter  to  endorse  and 
strongly  construe  that  decision,  and  to  express  his 
astonishment  that  any  different  view  had  ever  been 
entertained ! 

At  length  a  squabble  springs  up  between  the  Presi 
dent  and  the  author  of  the  Nebraska  bill,  on  the  mere 


38 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 


question  of  fact,  whether  the  Lecompton  Constitution 
was  or  was  not,  in  any  just  sense,  made  by  the  people 
of  Kansas  ;  and  in  that  quarrel  the  latter  declares  that 
all  he  wants  is  a  fair  vote  for  the  people,  and  that  he 
cares  not  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or  voted  up. 
I  do  not  understand  his  declaration  that  he  cares  not 
whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or  voted  up,  to  be  intended 
by  him  other  than  as  an  apt  definition  of  the  policy  he 
would  impress  upon  the  public  mind — the  principle  for 
wliieh  he  declares  he  has  suffered  so  much,  and  is  ready 
to  suffer  to  the  end.  And  well  may  he  cling  to  that 
principle.  If  he  has  any  parental  feeling,  well  may  he 
cling  to  it.  That  principle  is  the  only  shred  left  of  his 
original  Nebraska  doctrine.  Under  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  "  squatter  sovereignty  "  squatted  out  of  exist- 
ence, tumbled  down  like  temporary  scaffolding — like 
the  mould  at  the  foundry,  served  through  one  blast  and 
fell  back  into  loose  sand — helped  to  carry  an  election, 
and  then  was  kicked  to  the  winds.  His  late  joint 
struggle  with  the  Republicans,  against  the  Lecompton 
Constitution,  involves  nothing  of  the  original  Nebraska 
doctrine.  That  struggle  was  made  on  a  point — the 
right  of  a  people  to  make  their  own  constitution — upon 
which  he  and  the  Republicans  have  never  differed. 

The  several  points  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  in  con- 
nection with  Senator  Douglas's  "  care  not "  policy, 
constitute  the  piece  of  machinery,  in  its  present  state  of 
advancement.  This  was  the  third  point  gained.  The 
working  points  of  that  machinery  are  : 

First,  That  no  negro  slave,  imported  as  such  from 
Africa,  and  no  descendant  of  such  slave,  can  ever  be  a 
citizen  of  any  State,  in  the  sense  of  that  term  as  used 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  This  point  is 
made  in  order  to  deprive  the  negro,  in  every  possible 
event,  of  the  benefit  of  that  provision  of  the  United 
States  Constitution,  which  declares  that  "The  citizens 
of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  aud 
immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States." 

Secondly,  That  "  subject  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,"  neither  Congress  nor  a  Territorial  Legis- 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  39 

lature  can  exclude  Slavery  from  any  United  States  ter- 
ritory. This  point  is  made  in  order  that  individual  men 
may  till  up  the  Territories  with  slaves,  without  danger 
of  losing  them  as  property,  and  thus  to  enhance  the 
chances  of  permanency  to  the  institution  through  all 
the  future. 

Thirdly,  That  whether  the  holding  a  negro  in  actual 
slavery  in  a  free  State,  makes  him  free,  as  against  the 
holder,  the  United  States  courts  will  not  decide,  but  will 
leave  to  be  decided  by  the  courts  of  any  slave  State  the 
negro  may  be  forced  into  by  the  master.  This  point  is 
made,  not  to  be  pressed  immediately  ;  but  if  acquiesced 
in  for  awhile, and  apparently  endorsed  by  the  people  at 
an  election,  then  to  sustain  the  logical  conclusion  that 
what  Dred  Scott's  master  might  lawfully  do  with  Dred 
Scott,  in  the  free  state  of  Illinois,  every  other  master 
may  lawfully  do  with  any  other  one,  or  one  thousand 
slaves,  in  Illinois,  or  in  any  other  free  state. 

Auxiliary  to  all  this,  and  working  hand  in  hand  with 
it,  the  Nebraska  doctrine,  or  what  is  left  of  it,  is  to 
educate  and  mould  public  opinion,  at  least  Northern 
public  opinion,  not  to  care  whether  slavery  is  voted 
down  or  voted  up.  This  shows  exactly  where  we  now 
are  ;  and  partially,  also,  whither  we  are  tending. 

It  will  throw  additional  light  on  the  latter,  to  go 
back,  and  run  the  mind  over  the  string  of  historical 
facts  already  stated.  Several  things  will  now  appear 
less  dark  and  mysterious  than  they  did  when  they  were 
transpiring.  The  people  were  to  be  left  "perfectly 
free,  "subject  only  to  the  constitution."  What  the 
constitution  had  to  do  with  it,  outsiders  could  not  then 
see.  Plainly  enough  now,  it  was  an  exactly  titted  niche, 
for  the  Dred  Scott  decision  to  afterward  come  in,  and 
declare  the  perfect  freedom  of  the  people  to  be  just  no 
freedom  at  all.  Why  was  the  amendment,  expressly 
declaring  the  right  of  the  people,  voted  down  ?  Plainly 
enough  now :  the  adoption  of  it  would  have  spoiled  the 
niche  for  the  Dred  Scott  decision.  "Why  was  the  court 
decision  held  up  i  Why  even  a  senator's  individual 
opinion  withheld,  till  after  the  Presidential  election  ? 


40  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Plainly  enough  now  :  the  speaking  out  then  would  have 
damaged  the  perfectly  free  argument  upon  which  the 
election  was  to  be  carried.  Why  the  outgoing  Presi- 
dent's felicitation  on  the  endorsement?  Why  the  delay 
of  a  re-argument?  Why  the  incoming  President's  ad- 
vance exhortation  in  favor  of  the  decision?  These 
things  look  like  the  cautious  patting  and  petting  of  a 
spirited  horse  preparatory  to  mounting  him,  when  it  is 
dreaded  that  he  may  give  the  rider  a  fall.  And  why  the 
hasty  after-endorsement  of  the  decision  by  the  President 
and  others  ? 

We  cannot  absolutely  know  that  all  these  exact  adap- 
tations are  the  result  of  preconcert.  But  when  we  see 
a  lot  of  framed  timbers,  different  portions  of  which  we 
know  have  ^been  gotten  out  at  different  times  and 
places  and  by  different  workmen — Stephen,  Franklin, 
Roger  and  James,  for  instance — and  when  we  see  these 
timbers  joined  together,  and  see  they  exactly  make  the 
frame  of  a  house  or  a  mill,  all  the  tenons  and  mortices 
exactly  fitting,  and  all  the  lengths  and  proportions  of 
the  different  pieces  exactly  adapted  to  their  respective 
places,  and  not  a  piece  too  many  or  too  few — not  omit- 
ting even  scaffolding — or,  if  a  single  piece  be  lacking, 
we  see  the  place  in  the  frame  exactly  fitted  and  prepared 
yet  to  bring  such  piece  in — in  such  a  case,  we  find  it 
impossible  not  to  believe  that  Stephen  and  Franklin 
and  Roger  and  James  all  understood  one  another  from 
the  beginning,  and  all  worked  upon  a  common  plan  or 
draft  drawn  up  before  the  first  blow  was  struck. 

It  should  not  be  overlooked  that,  by  the  Nebraska 
bill,  the  people  of  a  State  as  well  as  Territory,  were  to 
be  left  u perfectly  free,"  "subject  only  to  the  Constitu- 
tion." Why  mention  a  State?  They  were  legislating 
for  Territories,  and  not  for  or  about  States.  Certainly  the 
people  of  a  State  are  and  ought  to  be  subject  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  but  why  is  mention 
of  this  lugged  into  this  merely  Territorial  law  ?  Why 
are  the  people  of  a  Territory  and  the  people  of  a  State 
therein  lumped  together,  and  their  relation  to  the  Con- 
stitution therein  treated  as  being  precisely  the  same  ? 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  41 

While  the  opinion  of  the  court,  by  Chief  Justice  Taney, 
in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  and  the  separate  opinions  of  all 
the  concurring  Judges,  expressly  declare  that  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  neither  permits  Congress 
nor  a  Territorial  Legislature  to  exclude  slavery  from  any 
United  States  Territory,  they  all  omit  to  declare  whether 
or  not  the  same  Constitution  permits  a  State,  or  the 
people  of  a  State,  to  exclude  it.  Possibly,  this  is  a 
mere  omission  ;  but  who  can  be  quite  sure,  if  McLean 
or  Curtis  had  songhi  to  get  into  the  opinion  a  declara- 
tion of  unlimited  power  in  the  people  of  a  State  to  ex- 
clude slavery  from  their  limits,  just  as  Chase  and  Mace 
sought  to  get  such  declaration,  in  behalf  of  the  people 
of  a  Territory,  into  the  Nebraska  bill ; — I  ask,  who  can 
be  quite  sure  that  it  would  not  have  been  voted  down 
in  the  one  case  as  it  had  been  in  the  other  ?  The  near- 
est approach  to  the  point  of  declaring  the  power  of  a 
State  over  slavery,  is  made  by  Judge  Nelson.  He 
approaches  it  more  than  once,  using  the  precise  idea, 
and  almost  the  language,  too,  of  the  Nebraska  act.  On 
one  occasion,  his  exact  language  is,  "  except  in  cases 
where  the  power  is  restrained  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  the  law  of  the  State  Is  supreme  over 
the  subject  of  slavery  within  its  jurisdiction."  In  what 
cases  the  power  of  the  States  is  so  restrained  by  the 
United  States  Constitution,  is  left  an  open  question,  pre- 
cisely as  the  same  question,  as  to  the  restraint  on  the 
power  of  the  Territories,  was  left  open  in  the  Nebraska 
act.  Put  this  and  that  together,  and  we  have  another 
nice  little  niche,  which  we  may,  ere  long,  see  tilled  with 
another  Supreme  C  >urt  decision,  declaring  that  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  does  not  permit  a  State  to 
exclude  slavery  from  its  limits.  And  this  may  specially 
be  expected  if  the  doctrine  of  "  care  not  whether 
slavery  be  voted  down  or  voted  up,"  shall  gain  upon 
the  public  mind  sufficiently  to  give  promise  that  such  a 
decision  can  be  maintained  when  made. 

Such  a  decision  is  all  that  slavery  now  lacks  of  being 
alike  lawful  in  all  the  States.  Welcome,  or  unwelcome, 
such  decision  is  probably  coming,  and  will  soon  be  upon 


42  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

us,  unless  the  power  of  the  present  political  dynasty 
shall  be  met  and  overthrown.  We  shall  lie  down 
pleasantly  dreaming  that  the  people  of  Missouri  are  on 
the  verge  of  making  their  State  free,  and  we  shall  awake 
to  the  reality  instead,  that  the  Supreme  Court  has  made 
Illinois  a  slave  State.  To  meet  and  overthrow  the 
power  of  that  dynasty,  is  the  work  now  before  all  those 
who  would  prevent  that  consummation.  That  is  what 
we  have  to  do.     How  can  we  best  do  it  ? 

There  are  those  who  denounce  us  openly  to  their  own 
friends,  and  yet  whisper  us  softly,  that  Senator  Douglas 
is  the  aptest  instrument  there  is  with  which  to  affect 
that  object.  They  wish  us  to  infer  all,  from  the  fact 
that  he  now  has  a  little  quarrel  with  the  present  head 
of  the  dynasty  ;  and  that  he  has  regularly  voted  with 
us  on  a  single  point,  upon  which  he  and  we  have  never 
differed.  They  remind  us  that  he  is  a  great  man,  and 
that  the  largest  of  us  are  very  small  ones.  Let  this  be 
granted.  But  "  a  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion." 
Judge  Douglas,  if  not  a  dead  lion,  for  this  work,  is  at 
least  a  caged  and  toothless  one.  How  can  he  oppose 
the  advances  of  slavery  ?  He  don't  care  anything  about 
it.  His  avowed  mission  is  impressing  the  "  public 
heart "  to  care  nothing  about  it.  A  leading  Douglas 
democratic  newspaper  thinks  Douglas's  superior  talent 
will  be  needed  to  resist  the  revival  of  the  African  slave 
trade.  Does  Douglas  believe  an  effort  to  revive  that 
trade  is  approaching  ?  He  has  not  said  so.  Does 
he  really  think  so?  But  if  it  is,  how  can  he  resist  it? 
For  years  he  has  labored  to  prove  it  a  sacred  right  of 
white  men  to  take  negro  slaves  into  the  new  Territories. 
Can  he  possibly  show  that  it  is  a  less  sacred  right  to  buy 
them  where  they  can  be  bought  cheapest  ?  And  un- 
questionably they  can  be  bought  cheaper  in  Africa  than 
in  Virginia.  He  has  done  all  in  his  power  to  reduce 
the  whole  question  of  slavery  to  one  of  a  mere  right  of 
property ;  and  as  such,  how  can  he  oppose  the  foreign 
slave  trade — how  can  he  refuse  that  trade  in  that  "  pro- 
perty "  shall  be  "  perfectly  free  " — unless  he  does  it  as 
a  protection  to  the  home  production  ?     And  as  the  home 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  43 

producers  will  probably  not  ask  the  protection,  he  will 
be  wholly  without  a  ground  of  opposition. 


SPEECH  OF  HON.   ABRAM  LINCOLN. 

Delivered   in    Springfield,  Saturday,  lJuly  17,   1858. 

Fellow-citizens  :  Another  election,  which  is  deemed 
an  important  one,  is  approaching,  and,  as  I  suppose,  the 
Eepublican  party  will,  without  much  difficulty,  elect 
their  State  ticket.  But  in  regard  to  the  Legislature,  we, 
the  Republicans,  labor  under  some  disadvantages.  In 
the  first  place,  we  have  a  Legislature  to  elect  upon  an 
apportionment  of  the  representation  made  several  years 
ago,  when  the  proportion  of  the  population  was  far 
greater  in  the  South  (as  compared  with  the  North)  than 
it  now  is ;  and  inasmuch  as  our  opponents  hold  almost 
entire  sway  in  the  South,  and  we  a  correspondingly  large 
majority  in  the  North,  the  fact  that  we  are  now  to  be 
represented  as  we  were  years  ago,  when  the  population 
was  different,  is,  to  us,  a  very  great  disadvantage.  We 
had  in  the  year  1855,  according  to  law,  a  census  or  enu- 
meration of  the  inhabitants,  taken  for  the  purpose  of  a 
new  apportionment  of  representation.  We  know  what 
a  fair  apportionment  of  representation  upon  that  census 
would  give  us.  We  know  that  it  could  not,  if  fairly 
made,  fail  to  give  the  Republican  party  from  six  to  ten 
more  members  of  the  Legislature  than  they  can  probably 
get  as  the  law  now  stands.  It  so  happened  at  the  last 
session  of  the  Legislature,  that  our  opponents,  holding 
the  control  of  both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  steadily 
refused  to  give  us  such  an  apportionment  as  we  were 
rightly  entitled  to  have  upon  the  census  already  taken. 
The  Legislature  steadily  refused  to  give  us  such  an  ap- 
portionment as  we  were  rightfully  entitled  to  have  upon 
the  census  taken  of  the  population  of  the  State.  The 
Legislature  would  pass  no  bill  upon  that  subject,  except 


44  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

sucli  as  was  at  least  as  unfair  to  us  as  the  old  one,  and  in 
which,  in  some  instances,  two  men  in  the  Democratic 
regions  were  allowed  to  go  as  far  toward  sending  a  mem- 
ber to  the  Legislature  as  three  were  in  the  Republican 
regions.  Comparison  was  made  at  the  time  as  to  repre- 
sentative and  senatorial  districts,  which  completely  de- 
monstrated that  such  was  the  fact.  Such  a  bill  was 
passed  and  tendered  to  the  Republican  Governor  for  his 
signature ;  but  principally  for  the  reasons  I  have  stated, 
he  withheld  his  approval,  and  the  bill  fell  without  be- 
coming a  law. 

Another  disadvantage  under  which  we  labor  is,  that 
there  are  one  or  two  Democratic  Senators  who  will  be 
members  of  the  next  Legislature,  and  will  vote  for  the 
election  of  Senator,  who  are  holding  over  in  districts  in 
which  we  could,  on  all  reasonable  calculation,  elect  men 
of  our  own,  if  we  only  had  the  chance  of  an  election. 
When  we  consider  that  there  are  but  twenty-five  Sena- 
tors in  the  Senate,  taking  two  from  the  side  where  they 
rightfully  belong  and  adding  them  to  the  other,  is  to  us  a 
disadvantage  not  to  be  lightly  regarded.  Still,  so  it  is ; 
we  have  this  to  contend  with.  Perhaps  there  is  no 
ground  of  complaint  on  our  part.  In  attending  to  the 
many  things  involved  in  the  last  general  election  for  Pre- 
sident, Governor,  Auditor,  Treasurer,  Superintendent  of 
Public  Instruction,  Members  of  Congress,  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, County  Officers,  and  so  on,  we  allowed  these  things 
to  happen  by  want  of  sufficient  attention,  and  we  have 
no  cause  to  complain  of  our  adversaries,  so  far  as  this 
matter  is  concerned.  But  we  have  some  cause  to  com- 
plain of  the  refusal  to  give  us  a  fair  apportionment. 

There  is  still  another  disadvantage  under  which  we 
labor,  and  to  which  I  will  ask  your  attention.  It  arises 
out  of  the  relative  positions  of  the  two  persons  who  stand 
before  the  State  as  candidates  for  the  Senate.  Senator 
Douglas  is  of  world-wide  renown.  All  the  anxious 
politicians  of  his  party,  or  who  have  been  of  his  party 
for  years  past,  have  been  looking  upon  him  as  certainly, 
at  no  distant  day,  to  be  the  President  of  the  United 
States.     They  have  seen  in  his  round,  jolly,  fruitful  face, 


The    Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  45 

post-offices,  land-offices,  marsh alships  and  cabinet  appoint- 
ments, chargeships  and  foreign  missions,  bursting  and 
sprouting  out  in  wonderful  exuberance,  ready  to  be  laid 
hold  of  by  their  greedy  hands.  And  as  they  have  been 
gazing  upon  this  attractive  picture  so  long,  they  cannot, 
in  the  little  distraction  that  has  taken  place  in  the  party, 
bnng  themselves  to  give  up  the  charming  hope ;  but  with 
greedier  anxiety  they  rush  about  him,  sustain  him,  and 
give  him  marches,  triumphal  entries,  and  receptions  be- 
yond what  even  in  the  days  of  his  highest  prosperity 
they  could  have  brought  about  in  his  favor.  On  the 
contrary,  nobody  has  ever  expected  me  to  be  President. 
In  my  poor,  lean,  lank  face,  nobody  has  ever  seen  that 
any  cabbages  were  sprouting  out.  These  are  disadvan- 
tages all,  taken  together,  that  the  Republicans  labor  under. 
We  have  to  fight  this  battle  upon  principle,  and  upon 
principle  alone.  I  am,  in  a  certain  sense,  made  the 
standard-bearer  in  behalf  of  the  Republicans.  I  was 
made  so  merely  because  there  had  to  be  some  one  so 
placed — I  being  in  nowise  preferable  to  any  other  one 
of  the  twenty-five — perhaps  a  hundred  we  have  in  the 
Republican  ranks.  Then  I  say  I  wish  it  to  be  distinctly 
understood  and  borne  in  mind,  that  we  have  to  fight  this 
battle  without  many — perhaps  without  any — of  the  ex- 
ternal aids  which  are  brought  to  bear  against  us.  So  I 
hope  those  with  whom  I  am  surrounded  have  principle 
enough  to  nerve  themselves  for  the  task  and  leave  no- 
thing undone,  that  can  be  fairly  done,  to  bring  about  the 
right  result. 

After  Senator  Douglas  left  Washington,  as  his  move- 
ments were  made  known  by  the  public  prints,  he  tarried 
a  considerable  time  in  the  city  of  New  York  ;  and  it  was 
heralded  that,  like  another  Napoleon,  he  was  lying  by 
and  framing  the  plan  of  his- campaign.  It  was  telegraphed 
to  Washington  City,  and  published  in  the  Union,  that 
he  was  framing  his  plan  for  the  purpose  of  going  to 
Illinois  to  pounce  upon  and  annihilate  the  treasonable 
and  disunion  speech  which  Lincoln  had  made  here  on  the 
16th  of  June.  Now,  I  do  suppose  that  the  Judge  really 
spent  some  time  in  New  York  maturing  the  plan  of  the 


46 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 


campaign,  as  his  friends  heralded  for  him.  I  have  been 
able,  by  noting  his  movements  since  his  arrival  in  Illinois, 
to  discover  evidences  confirmatory  of  that  allegation.  I 
think  I  have  been  able  to  see  what  are  the  material  points 
of  that  plan.  I  will,  for  a  little  while,  ask  your  attention 
to  some  of  them.  What  I  shall  point  out,  though  not 
showing  the  whole  plan,  are,  nevertheless,  the  main 
points,  as  I  suppose. 

They  are  not  very  numerous.  The  first  is  Popular 
Sovereignty.  The  second  and  third  are  attacks  upon  my 
speech  made  on  the  16th  of  June.  Out  of  these  three 
points — drawing  within  the  range  of  popular  sovereignty 
the  question  of  the  Lecompton  Constitution — he  makes 
his  principal  assault.  Upon  these  his  successive  speeches 
are  substantially  one  and  the  same.  On  this  matter  of 
popular  sovereignty  I  wish  to  be  a  little  careful.  Auxi- 
liary to  these  main  points,  to  be  sure,  are  their  thunder- 
ings  of  cannon,  their  marching  and  music,  their  fizzle- 
gigs  and  fire- works ;  but  I  will  not  waste  time  with  them. 
They  are  but  the  little  trappings  of  the  campaign. 

Coming  to  the  substance — the  first  point — "popular 
sovereignty."  It  is  to  be  labelled  upon  the  cars  in  which 
he  travels ;  put  upon  the  hacks  he  rides  in ;  to  be 
flaunted  upon  the  arches  he  passes  under,  and  the  ban- 
ners which  wave  over  him.  It  is  to  be  dished  up  in  as 
many  varieties  as  a  French  cook  can  produce  soups  from 
potatoes.  Now,  as  this  is  so  great  a  staple  of  the  plan 
of  the  campaign,  it  is  worth  while  to  examine  it  care- 
fully ;  and  if  we  examine  only  a  very  little,  and  do  not 
ajlow  ourselves  to  be  misled,  we  shall  be  able  to  see  that 
the  whole  thing  is  the  most  arrant  Quixotism  that  was 
ever  enacted  before  a  community.  What  is  the  matter 
of  popular  sovereignty?  The  first  thing,  in  order  to  un- 
derstand it,  is  to  get  a  good  definition  of  what  it  is,  and 
after  that  to  see  how  it  is  applied. 

I  suppose  almost  every  one  knows  that,  in  this  contro- 
versy, whatever  has  been  said  has  had  reference  to  the 
question  of  negro  slavery.  We  have  not  been  in  a  con- 
troversy about  the  right  of  the  people  to  govern  them- 
selves in  the  ordinary  matters  of  domestic  concern  in  the 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  47 

States  and  Territories.  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  one  of  his 
late  messages  (I  think  when  he  sent  up  the  Lecompton 
Constitution),  urged  that  the  main  point  to  which  the 
public  attention  had  been  directed,  was  not  in  regard  to 
the  great  variety  of  small  domestic  matters,  but  was 
directed  to  the  question  of  negro  slavery ;  and  he  asserts, 
that  if  the  people  had  had  a  fair  chance  to  vote  on  that 
question,  there  was  no  reasonable  ground  of  objection 
in  regard  to  minor  questions.  Now,  while  I  think  that 
the  people  had  not  had  given,  or  offered  them,  a  fair 
chance  upon  that  slavery  question ;  still,  if  there  had 
been  a  fair  submission  to  a  vote  upon  that  main  question, 
the  President's  proposition  would  have  been  true  to  the 
uttermost.  Hence,  when  hereafter  I  speak  of  popular 
sovereignty,  I  wish  to  be  understood  as  applying  what  I 
say  to  the  question  of  slavery  only,  not  to  other  minor 
domestic  matters  of  a  Territory  or  a  State. 

Does  Judge  Douglas,  when  he  says  that  several  of  the 
past  years  of  his  life  have  been  devoted  to  the  question 
of  "  popular  sovereignty,"  and  that  all  the  remainder  of 
his  life  shall  be  devoted  to  it,  does  he  mean  to  say  that 
he  has  been  devoting  his  life  to  securing  to  the  people  of 
the  Territories  the  right  to  exclude  slavery  from  the 
Territories?  If  he  means  so  to  say,  he  means  to  deceive ; 
because  he  and  every  one  knows  that  the  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  which  he  approves  and  makes  especial 
ground  of  attack  upon  me  for  disapproving,  forbids  the 
people  of  a  Territory  to  exclude  slavery.  This  covers 
the  whole  ground,  from  the  settlement  of  a  Territory  till 
it  reaches  the  degree  of  maturity  entitling  it  to  form  a 
State  Constitution.  So  far  as  all  that  ground  is  con- 
cerned, the  Judge  is  not  sustaining  popular  sovereignty, 
but  absolutely  opposing  it.  He  sustains  the  decision 
which  declares  that  the  popular  will  of  the  Territories 
has  no  constitutional  power  to  exclude  slavery  during 
their  territorial  existence.  This  being  so,  the  period  of 
time  from  the  first  settlement  of  a  Territory  till  it  reaches 
the  point  of  forming  a  State  Constitution,  is  not  the 
thing  that  the  Judge  has  fought  for  or  is  fighting  for,  but 
on  the  contrary,  he  lias  fought  for,  and  is  fighting  for,  the 


48  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

thing  that  annihilates  and  crushes  out  that  same  popular 
sovereignty. 

Well,  so  much  being  disposed  of,  what  is  left?  Why, 
he  is  contending  for  the  right  of  the  people,  when  they 
come  to  make  a  State  Constitution,  to  make  it  for  them- 
selves, and  precisely  as  best  suits  themselves.  I  say 
again,  that  is  Quixotic.  I  defy  contradiction  when  I 
declare  that  the  Judge  can  find  no  one  to  oppose  him  on 
that  proposition.  I  repeat,  there  is  nobody  opposing  that 
proposition  on  'principle,.  Let  me  not  be  misunderstood. 
I  know  that,  with  reference  to  the  Lecompton  Constitu- 
tion, I  may  be  misunderstood ;  but  when  you  understand 
me  correctly,  my  proposition  will  be  true  and  accurate. 
Nobody  is  opposing,  or  has  opposed,  the  right  of  the 
people,  when  they  form  a  Constitution,  to  form  it  for 
themselves.  Mr.  Buchanan  and  his  friends  have  not 
done  it;  they,  too,  as  well  as  the  Republicans  and  the 
Anti-Lecompton  Democrats,  have  not  done  it;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  they  together  have  insisted  on  the  right  of 
the  people  to  form  a  Constitution  for  themselves.  The 
difference  between  the  Buchanan  men  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  Douglas  men  and  the  Republicans  on  the  other, 
has  not  been  on  a  question  of  principle,  but  on  a  ques- 
tion of  fact. 

The  dispute  was  upon  the  question  of  fact,  whether 
the  Lecompton  Constitution  had  been  fairly  formed  by 
the  people  or  not.  Mr.  Buchanan  and  his  friends  have 
not  contended  for  the  contrary  principle  any  more  than 
the  Douglas  men  or  the  Republicans.  They  have  insisted 
that  whatever  of  small  irregularities  existed  in  getting 
up  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  were  such  as  happen  in 
the  settlement  of  all  new  Territories.  The  question  was, 
was  it  a  fair  emanation  of  the  people?  It  was  a  ques- 
tion of  fact  and  not  of  principle.  As  to  the  principle, 
all  were  agreed.  Judge  Douglas  voted  with  the  Repub- 
licans upon  that  matter  of  fact.  • 

He  and  they,  by  their  voices  and  votes,  denied  that 
it  was  a  fair  emanation  of  the  people.  The  Adminis- 
tration affirmed  that  it  was.  With  respect  to  the 
evidence  bearing  upon  that  question  of  fact,  I  readily 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  49 

agree  that  Judge  Douglas  and  the  Republicans  had  the 
right  ou  their  side,  and  that  the  Administration  was 
wrong.  But  I  state  again  that,  as  a  matter  of  princi- 
ple, there  is  no  dispute  upon  the  right  of  a  people  in  a 
Territory,  merging  into  a  State  to  form  a  Constitution 
for  themselves  without  outside  interference  from  any 
quarter.  This  being  so,  what  is  Judge  Douglas  going 
to  spend  his  life  for T  Is  he  going  to  spend  his  life  in 
maintaining  a  principle  that  nobody  on  earth  opposes  ? 
Does  he  expect  to  stand  up  in  majestic  dignity,  and 
go  through  his  apotheosis  and  become  a  god,  in  the 
maintaining  of  a  principle  which  neither  man  nor 
mouse  in  all  God's  creation  is  opposing  ?  Now  some- 
thing in  regard  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution  more 
specially ;  for  I  pass  from  this  other  question  of  popular 
sovereignty  as  the  most  arrant  humbug  that  has  ever 
been  attempted  on  an  intelligent  community. 

As  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  I  have  already 
said  that  on  the  question  of  fact  as  to  whether  it  was  a 
fair  emanation  of  the  people  or  not,  Judge  Douglas 
with  the  Republicans  and  some  Americans  had  greatly 
the  argument  against  the  Administration  ;  and  while  I 
repeat  this,  I  wish  to  know  what  there  is  in  the  opposi- 
tion of  Judge  Douglas  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution 
that  entitles  him  to  be  considered  the  only  opponent  to 
it — as  being  par  excellence  the  very  quintessence  of  that 
opposition.  I  agree  to  the  rightfulness  of  his  opposi- 
tion. He  in  the  Senate  and  his  class  of  men  there 
formed  the  number  three  and  no  more.  In  the  House 
of  Representatives  his  class  of  men — the  Anti-Lecomp- 
ton  Democrats — formed  a  number  of  about  twenty.  It 
took  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  defeat  the  measure, 
against  one  hundred  and  twelve.  Of  the  votes  of  that 
one  hundred  and  twenty,  Judge  Douglas's  friends  fur- 
nished twenty,  to  add  to  which  there  were  six  Americans 
and  ninety-four  Republicans.  I  do  not  say  that  I  am 
precisely  accurate  in  their  numbers,  but  I  am  sufficient- 
ly so  for  any  u-e  I  am  making  of  it. 

Why  is  it  that  twenty  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the 
credit  of  doing  that  work,  and  the  hundred  none  of  it? 

3 


50  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Why,  if,  as  Judge  Douglas  says,  the  honor  is  to  be 
divided  and  due  credit  is  to  be  given  to  other  parties, 
why  is  just  so  much  given  as  is  consonant  with  the 
wishes,  the  interests  and  advancement  of  the  twenty  ? 
My  understanding  is,  when  a  common  job  is  done,  or  a 
common  enterprise  prosecuted,  if  I  put  in  five  dollars 
to  your  one,  I  nave  a  right  to  take  out  five  dollars  to 
your  one.  But  he  does  not  so  understand  it.  He 
declares  the  dividend  of  credit  for  defeating  Lecompton 
upon  a  basis  which  seems  unprecedented  and  incom- 
prehensible. 

Let  us  see.  Lecompton  in  the  raw  was  defeated.  It 
afterward  took  a  sort  of  cooked  up  shape,  and  was 
passed  in  the  English  bill.  It  is  said  by  the  Judge  that 
the  defeat  was  a  good  and  proper  thing.  If  it  was  a 
good  thing,  why  is  he  entitled  to  more  credit  than 
others,  for  the  performance  of  that  good  act,  unless 
there  was  something  in  the  antecedents  of  the  Repub- 
licans that  might  induce  every  one  to  expect  them  to 
join  in  that  good  work,  and  at  the  same  time,  something 
leading  them  to  doubt  that  he  would  ?  Does  he  place 
his  superior  claim  to  credit,  on  the  ground  that  he  per- 
formed a  good  act  which  was  never  expected  of  him  ? 
He  says  I  have  a  proneness  for  quoting  scripture.  If  I 
should  do  so  now,  it  occurs  that  perhaps  he  places  him- 
self somewhat  upon  the  ground  of  the  parable  of  the 
lost  sheep  which  went  astray  upon  the  mountains,  and 
when  the  owner  of  the  hundred  sheep  found  the  one 
that  was  lost,  and  threw  it  upon  his  shoulders,  and 
came  home  rejoicing,  it  was  said  that  there  was  more 
rejoicing  over  the  one  sheep  that  was  lost  and  had  been 
found,  than  over  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  fold.  The 
application  is  made  by  the  Saviour  in  this  parable, 
thus:  "  Yerily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  is  more  rejoicing 
in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  than  over 
ninety  and  nine  just  persons  that  need  no  repent- 
ance." 

And  now,  if  the  Judge  claims  the  benefit  of  this 
parable,  let  him  repent.  Let  him  not  come  up  here 
and  say :  "  I  am  the  only  person  ;  and  you  are   the 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  51 

ninety-nine  sinners  I"  Repentance  before  forgiveness 
is  a  provision  of  the  Christian  system,  and  on  that  con- 
dition alone  will  the  Republicans  grant  his  forgive- 
ness. 

How  will  he  prove  that  we  have  ever  occupied  a 
different  position  in  regard  to  the  Lecompton  Constitu- 
tion or  any  principle  in  it?  He  says  he  did  not  make 
his  opposition  on  the  ground  as  to  whether  it  was  a  free 
or  slave  Constitution,  and  he  would  have  you  under- 
stand that  the  Republicans  made  their  opposition 
because  it  ultimately  became  a  slave  Constitution.  To 
make  proof  in  favor  of  himself  on  this  point,  he  re- 
minds us  that  he  opposed  Lecompton  before  the  vote 
was  taken  declaring  whether  the  State  was  to  be  free 
or  slave.  But  he  forgets  to  say  that  our  Republican 
Senator,  Trumbull,  made  a  speech  against  Lecompton 
even  before  he  did. 

"Why  did  he  oppose  it?  Partly,  as  he  declares, 
because  the  members  of  the  Convention  who  framed  it 
were  not  fairly  elected  by  the  people  ;  that  the  people 
were  not  allowed  to  vote  unless  they  had  been  registered ; 
and  that  the  people  of  whole  counties,  in  some  instan- 
ces, were  not  registered.  For  these  reasons  he  declares 
the  Constitution  was  not  an  emanation,  in  any  true 
sense,  from  the  people.  He  also  has  an  additional 
objection  as  to  the  mode  of  submitting  the  Constitution 
back  to  the  people.  But  bearing  on  the  question  of 
whether  the  delegates  were  fairly  elected,  a  speech  of 
his,  made  something  more  than  twelve  months  ago, 
from  this  stand,  becomes  important.  It  was  made  a 
little  while  before  the  election  of  the  delegates  who 
made  Lecompton.  In  that  speech  he  declared  there 
was  every  reason  to  hope  and  believe  the  electionwouJd 
be  fair ;  and  if  any  one  failed  to  vote,  it  would  be  his 
own  culpable  fault. 

I,  a  few  days  after,  made  a  sort  of  answer  to  that 
speech.  In  that  answer,  I  made  substantially,  the  very 
argument  with  which  he  combatted  his  Lecompjton 
adversaries  in  the  Senate  last  winter.  I  pointed  to  the 
facts  that  the  people  could  not  vote  without  being  regis- 


$2  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

tered,  and  that  the  time  for  registering  had  gone  by.  I 
commented  on  it  as  wonderful  that  Judge  Douglas 
could  be  ignorant  of  these  facts,  which  every  one  else 
in  the  nation  so  well  knew. 

I  now  pass  from  popular  sovereignty  and  Lecompton. 
I  may  have  occasion  to  refer  to  one  or  both. 

When  he  was  preparing  his  plan  of  campaign,  Na- 
poleon-like, in  New  York,  as  appears  by  two  speeches 
I  have  heard  him  deliver  since  his  arrival  in  Illinois, 
he  gave  special  attention  to  a  speech  of  mine,  delivered 
here  on  the  16th  of  Jane  last.  He  says  that  he  care- 
fully read  that  speech.  He  told  us  that  at  Chicago  a 
week  ago  last  night,  and  he  repeated  it  at  Bloomington 
last  night.  Doubtless,  he  repeated  it  again  to-day, 
though  I  did  dot  hear  him.  In  the  two  first  places — 
Chicago  and  Bloomington — I  heard  him  ;  to-day  I  did 
not.  He  said  he  had  carefully  examined  that  speech  ; 
when,  he  did  not  say ;  but  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt 
it  was  when  he  was  in  New  York  preparing  his  plan  of 
campaign.  I  am  glad  he  did  read  it  carefully.  He 
says  it  was  evidently  prepared  with  great  care.  I 
freely  admit  that  it  was  prepared  with  care.  I  claim 
not  to  be  more  free  from  errors  than  others — perhaps 
scarcely  so  much  ;  but  I  was  careful  not  to  put  any- 
thing in  that  speech  as  a  matter  of  fact,  or  make  any 
inferences  which  did  not  appear  to  be  true,  and  fully 
warrantable.  If  I  had  made  any  mistake  I  was  will- 
ing to  be  corrected ;  if  I  had  drawn  any  inference  in 
regard  to  Judge  Douglas,  or  any  one  else,  which  was 
not  warranted,  I  was  fully  prepared  to  modify  it  as 
soon  as  discovered.  I  planted  myself  upon  the  truth 
and  the  truth  only,  so  far  as  I  knew  it,  or  could  be 
brought  to  know  it. 

Having  made  that  speech  with  the  most  kindly 
feelings  toward  Judge  Douglas,  as  manifested  therein, 
I  was  gratified  when  I  found  that  he  had  carefully 
examined  it,  and  had  detected  no  error  of  fact,  nor 
any  inference  against  him,  nor  any  misrepresentations, 
of  which  he  thought  fit  to  complain.  In  neither  of  the 
two  speeches  I  have  mentioned,  did  he  make  any  such 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  53 

complaint.  I  will  thank  any  one  who  will  inform  me 
that  he,  in  his  speech  to-day,  pointed  out  anything  I 
had  stated,  respecting  him,  as  being  erroneous.  I  pre- 
sume there  is  no  such  thing.  I  have  reason  to  be 
gratified  that  the  care  and  caution  used  in  that  speech, 
left  it  so  that  he,  most  of  all  others  interested  in  dis- 
covering error,  has  not  been  able  to  point  out  one  thing 
against  him  which  he  could  say  was  wrong.  He  seizes 
upon  the  doctrines  he  supposes  to  be  included  in  that 
speech,  and  declares  that  upon  them  will  turn  the  issues 
of  this  campaign.  He  then  quotes,  or  attempts  to 
quote,  from  my  speech.  I  will  not  say  that  he  wilfully 
misquotes,  but  he  does  fail  to  quote  accurately.  His 
attempt  at  quoting  is  from  a  passage  which  I  believe  I 
can  quote  accurately  from  memory.  I  shall  make  the 
quotation  now,  with  some  comments  upon  it,  as  I  have 
already  said,  in  order  that  the  Judge  shall  be  left 
entirely  without  excuse  for  misrepresenting  me.  I  do  so 
now,  as  I  hope,  for  the  last  time.  I  do  this  in  great 
caution,  in  order  that  if  he  repeats  his  misrepresenta- 
tion, it  shall  be  plain  to  all  that  he  does  so  wilfully. 
If,  after  all,  he  still  persists,  I  shall  be  compelled  to 
reconstruct  the  course  I  have  marked  out  for  myself, 
and  draw  upon  such  humble  resources  as  I  have,  for  a 
new  course,  better  suited  to  the  real  exigencies  of  the 
case.  I  set  out,  in  this  campaign,  with  the  intention  of 
conducting  it  strictly  as  a  gentleman,  in  substance  at 
least,  if  not  in  the  outside  polish.  The  latter  I  shall 
never  be,  but  that  which  constitutes  the  inside  of  a 
gentleman  I  hope  I  understand,  and  am  not  less  in- 
clined to  practice  than  others.  It  was  my  purpose  and 
expectation  that  this  canvass  would  be  conducted  upon 
principle,  and  with  fairness  on  both  sides,  and  it  shall 
not  be  my  fault  if  this  purpose  and  expectation  shall  be 
given  up. 

He  charges,  in  substance,  that  I  invite  a  war  of  sec- 
tions ;  that  I  propose  all  the  local  institutions  of  the 
different  States  shall  become  consolidated  and  uniform. 
"What  is  there  in  the  language  of  that  speech  which 
expresses  such  purpose,  or  bears  such  construction  ?     I 


54  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

have  again  and  again  said  that  I  would  not  enter  into 
any  of  the  States  to  disturb  the  institution  of  slavery. 
Judge  Doughi9  said,  at  Bloomington,  that  I  used  lan- 
guage most  able  and  ingenious  for  concealing  what  I 
really  meant ;  and  that  while  I  had  protested  against 
entering  into  the  slave  States,  I  nevertheless  did  mean 
to  go  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  and  throw  missiles  into 
Kentucky,  to  disturb  them  in  their  domestic  institutions. 

I  said,  in  that  speech,  and  I  meant  no  more,  that  the 
institution  of  slavery  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  very 
attitude  where  the  framers  of  this  Government  placed 
it  and  left  it.  I  do  not  understand  that  the  framers  of 
our  Constitution  left  the  people  of  the  free  States  in  the 
attitude  of  firing  bombs  or  shells  into  the  slave  States. 
I  was  not  using  that  passage  for  the  purpose  for  which 
he  infers  I  did  use  it.  I  said  :  "  We  are  now  advanced 
into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  created  for  the 
avowed  object  and  with  the  confident  promise  of  putting 
an  end  to  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of 
that  policy  that  agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased,  but 
has  constantly  augmented.  In  my  opinion  it  will  not 
cease  till  a  crisis  shall  have  been  reached  and  passed. 
'  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe 
that  this  Government  cannot  endure  permanently  half 
slave  and  half  free.  It  will  become  ail  one  thing  or  all 
the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest 
the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public 
mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course 
of  ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  for- 
ward till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States, 
old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South." 

Now  you  all  see,  from  that  quotation,  I  did  not  ex- 
press my  wish  on.  anything.  In  that  passage  I  indicated 
no  wish  or  purpose  of  my  own ;  I  simply  expressed  my 
expectation.  Cannot  the  Judge  perceive  a  distinction 
between  a  purpose  and  an  expectation  ?  I  have  often 
expressed  an  expectation  to  die,  but  I  have  never 
expressed  a  wish,  to  die.  I  said  at  Chicago,  and  now 
repeat,  that  I  am  quite  aware  this  Government  has 
endured,  half  slave  and  half  free,  for  eighty-two  years. 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln^  55" 

I  understand  that  little  bit  of  history.  I  expressed  the 
opinion  I  did,  because  I  perceived — or  thought  I  per- 
ceived— a  new  set  of  causes  introduced.  I  did  say  at 
Chicago,  in  my  speech  there,  that  I  do  wish  to  see  the 
spread  of  slavery  arrested,  and  to  see  it  placed  where 
the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction.  I  said  that  because  I 
supposed,  when  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  that  belief, 
we  shall  have  peace  on  the  slavery  question.  I  have 
believed — and  now  believe — the  public  mind  did  rest 
on  that  belief  up  to  the  introduction  of  the  Nebraska 
bill. 

Although  I  have  ever  been  opposed  to  slavery,  so  far 
I  rested  in  the  hope  and  belief  that  it  was  in  the  course 
of  ultimate  extinction.  For  that  reason  it  had  been  a 
minor  question  with  me.  I  might  have  been  mistaken ; 
but  I  had  believed,  and  now  believe,  that  the  whole 
public  mind,  that  is,  the  mind  of  the  great  majority, 
had  rested  in  that  belief  up  to  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise.  But  upon  that  event,  I  became 
convinced  that  either  I  had  been  resting  in  a  de- 
lusion, or  the  institution  was  being  placed  on  a  new 
basis — a  basis  for  making  it  perpetual,  national  and 
universal.  I  believe  that  bill  to  be  the  beginning  of  a 
conspiracy  for  that  purpose.  So  believing,  1  have  since 
then  considered  that  question  a  paramount  one.  So 
believing,  I  thought  the  public  mind  will  never  rest  till 
the  power  of  Congress  to  restrict  the  spread  of  it  shall 
again  be  acknowledged  and  exercised  on  the  one  hand, 
or  on  the  other,  all  resistance  be  entirely  crushed  out. 
I  have  expressed  that  opinion,  and  I  entertain  it  to-night. 
It  is  denied  that  there  is  any  tendency  to  the  nation- 
alization of  slavery  in  these  States. 

Mr.  Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  in  one  of  his  speeches, 
when  they  were  presenting  him  canes,  silver  plate,  gold 
pitchers  and  the  like,  for  assaulting  Senator  Sumner, 
distinctly  affirmed  his  opinion  that  when  this  Constitu- 
tion was  formed,  it  was  the  belief  of  no  man  that  slavery 
would  last  to  the  present  day. 

He  said,  what  I  think,  that  the  framers  of  our  Con- 


56  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.   * 

stitution  placed  the  institution  of  slavery  where  the 
public  mind  rested  in  the  hope  that  it  was  in  the  course 
of  ultimate  extinction.  But  he  went  on  to  say  that  the 
men  of  the  present  age,  by  their  experience,  have  become 
wiser  than  the  framers  of  the  Constitution ;  and  the 
invention  of  the  cotton  gin  had  made  the  perpetuity  of 
slavery  a  necessity  in  this  country. 

As  another  piece  of  evidence  tending  to  this  same 
point :  Quite  recently  in  Virginia,  a  man — the  owner 
of  slaves — made  a  will  providing  that  after  his  death 
certain  of  his  slaves  should  have  their  freedom  if  they 
should  so  choose,  and  go  to  Liberia,  rather  than  remain 
in  slavery.  They  chose  to  be  liberated.  But  the  per- 
sons to  whom  they  would  descend  as  property,  claimed 
them  as  slaves.  A  suit  was  instituted,  which  finally 
came  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Yirginia,  and  was  therein 
decided  against  the  slaves,  upon  the  ground  that  a 
negro  cannot  make  a  choice — that  they  had  no  legal 
power  to  choose — could  not  perform  the  condition  upon 
which  their  freedom  depended. 

I  do  not  mention  this  with  any  purpose  of  criticising 
it,  but  to  connect  it  with  the  arguments  as  affording 
additional  evidence  of  the  change  of  sentiment  upon 
this  question  of  slavery  in  the  direction  of  making  it 
perpetual  and  national.  I  argue  now  as  I  did  before, 
that  there  is  such  a  tendency,  and  I  am  backed  not 
merely  by  the  facts,  but  by  the  open  confession  in  the 
slave  States. 

And  now,  as  to  the  Judge's  inference,  that  because  I 
wish  to  see  slavery  placed  in  the  course  of  ultimate 
extinction — placed  where  our  fathers  originally  placed 
it — I  wish  to  annihilate  the  State  Legislatures — to  force 
cotton  to  grow  upon  the  tops  of  the  Green  Mountains — 
to  freeze  ice  in  Florida — to  cut  lumber  on  the  broad 
Illinois  prairies — that  I  am  in  favor  of  all  these  ridicu- 
lous and  impossible  things. 

It  seems  to  me  it  is  a  complete  answer  to  all  this  to 
ask,  if,  when  Congress  did  have  the  fashion  of  restrict- 
ing slavery  from  free  territory;  when  courts  did  have 
the  fashion  of  deciding  that  taking  a  slave  into  a  free 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  57 

country  made  him  free — I  say  it  is  a  sufficient  answer 
to  ask,  if  any  of  this  ridiculous  nonsense  about  consoli- 
dation, and  uniformity,  did  actually  follow?  Who 
heard  of  any  snch  thing,  because  of  the  Ordinance  of 
'87?  because  of  the  Missouri  Restriction  ?  because  of  the 
numerous  court  decisions  of  that  character  ? 

Now  as  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision  ;  for  upon  that  he 
makes  his  last  point  at  me.  He  boldly  takes  ground  in 
favor  of  that  decision. 

This  is  one-half  the  onslaught,  and  one-third  of  the 
entire  plan  of  the  campaign.  I  am  opposed  to  that 
decision  in  a  certain  sense,  but  not  in  the  sense  which 
he  puts  on  it.  I  say  that  in  so  far  as  it  decided  in  favor 
of  Dred  Scott's  master,  and  against  Dred  Scott  and  his 
family,  I  do  not  propose  to  disturb  or  resist  the  decision. 

I  never  have  proposed  to  do  any  such  thing.  I  think, 
that  in  respect  for  judicial  authority,  my  humble  history 
would  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  that  of  Judge 
Douglas.  He  would  have  the  citizen  conform  his  vote 
to  that  decision  ;  the  member  of  Congress,  his  ;  the 
President,  his  use  of  the  veto  power.  He  would  make 
it  a  rule  of  political  action  for  the  people  and  all  the 
departments  of  the  Government.  I  would  not.  By 
resisting  it  as  a  political  rule  I  disturb  no  right  of  pro- 
perty, create  no  disorder,  excite  no  mobs. 

When  he  spoke  at  Chicago,  on  Friday  evening  of  last 
week,  he  made  this  same  point  upon  me.  On  Saturday 
evening  I  replied,  and  reminded  him  of  a  Supreme 
Court  decision  which  he  opposed  for  at  least  several 
years.  Last  night,  at  Bloomington,  he  took  some  notice 
of  that  reply  ;  but  entirely  forgot  to  remember  that  part 
of  it. 

He  renews  his  onslaught  upon  me,  forgetting  to  re- 
member that  I  have  turned  the  tables  against  himself 
on  that  very  point.  I  renew  the  effort  to  draw  his  at- 
tention to  it.  I  wish  to  stand  erect  before  the  country, 
as  well  as  Judge  Douglas,  on  this  question  of  judicial 
authority  ;  and  therefore  I  add  something  to  the  autho- 
rity in  favor  of  my  own  position.  I  wish  to  show  that 
I  am  sustained  by  authority,  in  addition  to  that  hereto- 

3* 


58 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 


fore  presented.  I  do  not  expect  to  convince  the  Judge. 
It  is  part  of  the  plan  of  his  campaign,  and  he  will  cling 
to  it  with  a  desperate  gripe.  Even,  turn  it  upon  him — 
the  sharp  point  against  him,  and  gaff  him  through — he 
will  still  cling  to  it  till  he  can  invent  some  new  dodge 
to  take  the  place  of  it. 

In  public  speaking  it  is  tedious  reading  from  docu- 
ments ;  but  I  must  beg  to  indulge  the  practice  to  a 
limired  extent.  I  shall  read  from  a  letter  written  by 
Mr.  Jefferson  in  1820,  and  now  to  be  found  in  the 
seventh  volume  of  his  correspondence,  at  page  177.  It 
seems  he  had  been  presented  by  a  gentleman  of  the 
natne  of  Jarvis  with  a  book,  or  essay,  or  periodical, 
called  the  "  Republican,"  and  he  was  writing  in  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  present,  and  noting  some  of  its  contents. 
After  expressing  the  hope  that  the  work  will  produce  a 
favorable  effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  young,  he  pro- 
ceeds to  say : 

"That  it  will  have  this  tendency  may  be  expected, 
and  for  that  reason  I  feel  an  urgency  to  note  what  I 
deem  an  error  in  it,  the  more  requiring  notice  as  your 
opinion  is  strengthened  by  that  of  many  others.  You 
seem,  in  page  81  and  118,  to  consider  the  judges  as  the 
ultimate  arbiters  of  all  constitutional  questions — a  very 
dangerous  doctrine  indeed,  and  one  which  would  place 
us  under  the  despotism  of  an  oligarchy.  Our  judges 
are  as  honest  as  other  men,  and  not  more  so.  They 
have,  with  others,  the  same  passions  for  party,  for 
power,  and  the  privilege  of  their  corps.  Their  maxim 
is,  '  boni  judicis  est  ampliare  jurisdictionem  ;'  and  their 
power  is  the-  more  dangerous  as  they  are  in  office  for 
life,  and  not  responsible,  as  the  other  functionaries  are, 
to  the  elective  control.  The  constitution  has  erected  no 
such  single  tribunal,  knowing  that,  to  whatever  hands 
confided,  with  the  corruptions  of  time  and  party,  its 
members  would  become  despots.  It  has  more  wisely 
made  all  the  departments  coequal  and  cosovereigu  with 
themselves." 

Thus  we  see  the  power  claimed  for  the  Supreme  Court 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  59 

by  Judge  Douglas,  Mr.  Jefferson  holds,  would  reduce 
us  to  the  despotism  of  an  oligarchy. 

Now,  I  have  said  no  more  than  this — in  fact,  never 
quite  so  much  as  this — at  least  I  am  sustained  by  Mr. 
Jefferson. 

Let  us  go  a  little  further.  You  remember  we  once  had 
a  National  Bank.  Some  one  owed  the  bank  a  debt ; 
he  was  sued  and  sought  to  avoid  payment,  on  the  ground 
that  the  bank  was  unconstitutional.  The  case  went  to 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  therein  it  was  decided  that  the 
bank  was  constitutional.  The  whole  Democratic  party 
revolted  against  that  decision.  General  Jackson  himself 
asserted  that  he,  as  President,  would  not  be  bound  to 
hold  a  National  Bank  to  be  constitutional,  even  though 
the  court  had  decided  it  to  be  so.  He  fell  in  precisely 
with  the  view  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  acted  upon  it  under 
his  official  oath,  in  vetoing  a  charter  for  a  National 
Bank.  The  declaration  that  Congress  does  not  pos- 
sess this  constitutional  power  to  charter  a  bank,  has  gone 
into  the  Democratic  platform,  at  their  National  Conven- 
tion, and  was  brought  forward  and  reaffirmed  in  their 
last  Convention  at  Cincinnati.  They  have  contended 
for  that  declaration,  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  In  fact, 
they  have  reduced  the  decision  to  an  absolute  nullity. 
That  decision,  I  repeat,  is  repudiated  in  the  Cincinnati 
platform  ;  and  still,  as  if  to  show  that  effrontry  can  go 
no  farther,  Judge  Douglas  vaunts  in  the  very  speeches 
in  which  he  denounces  me  for  opposing  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  that  he  stands  on  the  Cincinnati  platform. 

Now  I  wish  to  know  what  the  Judge  can  charge  upon 
me,  with  respect  to  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
which  does  not  lie  in  all  its  length,  breath,  and  proportions 
at  his  own  door.  The  plain  truth  is  simply  this :  Judge 
Douglas  is  for  Supreme  Court  decisions  when  he  likes 
and  against  them  when  he  does  not  like  them.  He  is 
for  the  Dred  Scott  decision  because  it  tends  to  nationalize 
slavery — because  it  is  part  of  the  original  combination 
for  that  object.  It  so  happens,  singularly  enough,  that 
I  never  stood  opposed  to  a  decision  of  the  supreme 


6o  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Court  till  this.  On  the  contrar}^  I  have  no  recollection 
that  he  was  ever  particularly  in  favor  of  one  till  this. 
He  never  was  in  favor  of  any,  nor  opposed  to  any,  till 
the  present  one,  which  helps  to  nationalize  slavery. 

Free  men  of  Sangamon — free  men  of  Illinois — free 
men  everywhere — -judge  ye  between  him  and  me,  upon 
this  issue. 

He  says  this  Dred  Scott  case  is  a  very  small  matter  at 
most — that  it  has  no  practical  effect ;  that  at  best,  or 
rather,  I  suppose,  at  worst,  it  is  but  an  abstraction.  1 
submit  that  the  proposition  that  the  thing  which  deter- 
mines whether  a  man  is  free  or  a  slave,  is  rather  concrete 
than  abstract.  I  think  you  would  conclude  that  it  was, 
if  your  liberty  depended  upon  it,  and  so  would  Judge 
Douglas  if  his  liberty  depended  upon  it.  But  suppose 
it  was  on  the  question  of  spreading  slavery  over  the 
new  Territories  that  he  considers  it  as  being  merely  an 
abstract  matter,  and  one  of  no  practical  importance. 
How  has  the  planting  of  slavery  in  new  countries  al- 
ways been  effected  %  It  has  now  been  decided  that 
slavery  cannot  be  kept  out  of  our  new  Territories  by 
any  legal  means.  In  what  do  our  new  Territories  now 
differ  in  this  respect  from  the  old  Colonies  when  slavery 
was  first  planted  within  them  %  It  was  planted  as  Mr. 
Clay  once  declared,  and  as  history  proves  true,  by  indi- 
vidual men  in  spite  of  the  wishes  of  the  people  ;  the 
Mother  Government  refusing  to  prohibit  it,  and  with- 
holding from  the  people  of  the  Colonies  the  authority 
to  prohibit  it  for  themselves.  Mr.  Clay  says  this  was 
one  of  the  great  and  just  causes  of  complaint  against 
Great  Britain  by  the  Colonies,  and  the  best  apology  we 
can  now  make  for  having  the  institution  amongst  us. 
In  that  precise  condition  our  Nebraska  politicians  have 
at  last  succeeded  in  placing  our  own  new  Territories  ; 
the  Government  will  not  prohibit  slavery  within  them, 
nor  allow  the  people  to  prohibit  it. 

I  defy  any  man  to  find  any  difference  between  the 
policy  which  originally  pl.mted  slavery  in  these  Colonies 
and  that  policy  which  now  prevails  in  our  new  Terri- 
tories.    If  it  does  not  go  into  them,  it  is  only  because 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  61 

no  individual  wishes  it  to  go.  The  Judge  indulged  him- 
self, doubtless  to-day,  with  the  question  as  to  what  I  am 
going  to  do  with  or  about  the  Died  Scott  decision. 
Well,  Judge,  will  you  please  tell  me  what  you  did  about 
the  bank  decision?  Will  you  not  graciously  allow  us 
to  do  with  the  Dred  Scott  decision  precisely  as  you  did 
with  the  bank  decision  ?  You  succeeded  in  breaking 
down  the  moral  effect  of  that  decision  ;  did  you  find  it 
necessary  to  amend  the  Constitution  ?  or  to  set  up  a 
court  of  negroes  in  order  to  do  it  ? 

There  is  one  other  point.  Judge  Douglas  has  a  very 
affectionate  leaning  toward  the  Americans  and  Old 
"Whigs.  Last  evening,  in  a  sort  of  weeping  tone,  he 
described  to  us  a  death-bed  scene.  He  had  been  called 
to  the  side  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  his  last  moments,  in  order  that 
the  genius  of  "  popular  sovereignty  "  might  duly  descend 
from  the  dying  man  and  settle  upon  him,  the  living  and 
most  worthy  successor.  He  could  do  no  less  than  promise 
that  he  would  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  "  po- 
pular sovereignty  ;"  and  then  the  great  statesman  de- 
parts in  peace.  By  this  part  of  the  "  plan  of  the  com- 
pain,"  the  Judge  has  evidently  promised  himself  that 
tears  shall  be  drawn  down  the  cheeks  of  all  Old  "Whigs, 
as  large  as  half-grown  apples. 

Mr.  Webster,  too,  was  mentioned ;  but  it  did  not  quite 
come  to  a  death-bed  scene,  as  to  him.  It  would  be  amus- 
ing, if  it  were  not  disgusting,  to  see  how  quick  these 
compromise-breakers  administer  on  the  political  effects 
of  their  dead  adversaries,  trumping  up  claims  never  be- 
fore heard  of,  and  dividing  the  assets  among  themselves. 
If  I  should  be  found  dead  to-morrow  morning,  nothing 
but  my  insignificance  could  prevent  a  speech  being  made 
on  my  authority  before  the  end  of  next  week.  It  so 
happens  that  in  that  "  popular  sovereignity  "  with  which 
Mr.  Clay  was  identified,  the  Missouri  Compromise  was 
expressly  reserved ;  and  it  was  a  little  singular,  if  Mr. 
Clay  cast  his  mantle  upon  Judge  Douglas  on  purpose  to 
have  that  compromise  repealed. 

Again,  the  Judge  did  not  keep  faith  with  Mr.  Clay 
when  he  first  brought  in  his  Nebraska  bill.     He  left  the 


62  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Missouri  Compromise  unrepealed,  and  in  his  report  ac- 
companying the  bill,  he  told  the  world  he  did  it  on  pur- 
pose. The  manes  of  Mr.  Clay  must  have  been  in  great 
agony,  till  thirty  days  later,  when  "  popular  sovereignty  " 
stood  forth  in  all  its  glory. 

One  more  thing.  Last  night  Judge  Douglas  tormented 
himself  with  horrors  about  my  disposition  k>  make  ne- 
groes perfectly  equal  with  white  men  in  social  and  politi- 
cal relations.  He  did  not  stop  to  show  that  I  have  said 
any  such  thing,  or  that  it  legitimately  follows  from  any 
thing  I  have  said,  but  he  rushes  on  with  his  assertions. 
I  adhere  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  If  Judge 
Douglas  and  his  friends  are  not  willing  to  stand  by  it,  let 
them  come  up  and  amend  it.  Let  them  make  it  read 
that  all  men  are  created  equal  except  negroes.  Let  us 
have  it  decided,  whether  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
in  this  blessed  year  of  1858,  shall  be  thus  amended. 
In  his  construction  of  the  Declaration  last  year,  he  said 
it  only  meant  that  'Americans  in  America  were  equal  to 
Englishmen  in  England.  Then,  when  I  pointed  out  to 
him  that  by  that  rule  he  excludes  the  Germans,  the  Irish, 
the  Portuguese,  and  all  the  other  people  who  have  come 
amongst  us  since  the  Revolution,  he  reconstructs  his  con- 
struction. In  his  last  speech  he  tells  us  it  meant  Euro- 
peans. 

I  press  him  a  little  further,  and  ask  if  it  meant  to  in- 
clude the  Russians  in  Asia  ?  or  does  he  mean  to  exclude 
that  vast  population  from  the  principles  of  our  Declara- 
tion of  Independence?  I  expect  ere  long  he  will  intro- 
duce another  amendment  to  his  definition.  He  is  not  at 
all  particular.  He  is  satisfied  with  any  thing  which  does 
not  endanger  the  nationalizing  of  negro  slavery.  It  may 
draw  white  men  down,  but  it  must  not  lift  negroes  up. 
Who  shall  say,  "I  am  the  superior,  and  you  are  the  in- 
ferior?" 

My  declarations  upon  this  subject  of  negro  slavery 
may  be  misrepresented,  but  cannot  be  misunderstood.  I 
have  said  that  I  do  not  understand  the  Declaration  to 
mean  that  all  men  were  created  equal  in  all  respects. 
They  are  not  our  equal  in  color ;  but  I  suppose  that  it 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  63 

does  mean  to  declare  that  all  men  are  equal  in  some  re- 
spects ;  they  are  equal  in  their  right  to  "  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Certainly  the  negro  is  not 
our  equal  in  color — perhaps  not  in  many  other  respects ; 
still,  in  the  right  to  put  into  his  mouth  the  bread  that  his 
own  hands  have  earned,  he  is  the  equal  of  every  other 
man,  white  or  black.  In  pointing  out  that  more  has  been 
given  you,  you  cannot  be  justified  in  taking  away  the 
little  which  has  been  given  him.  All  I  ask  for  the  negro 
is  that  if  you  do  not  like  him,  let  him  alone.  If  God 
gave  him  but  little,  that  little  let  him  enjoy. 

When  our  Government  was  established,  we  had  the 
institution  of  slavery  among  us.  We  were  in  a  certain 
sense  compelled  to  tolerate  its  existence.  It  was  a  sort 
of  iecessity.  We  had  gone  through  our  struggle  and 
secured  our  own  independence.  The  framers  of  the 
Constitution  found  the  institution  of  slavery  amongst 
their  other  institutions  at  the  time.  They  found  that  by 
an  effort  to  eradicate  it,  they  might  lose  much  of  what 
they  had  already  gained.  They  were  obliged  to  bow  to 
the  necessity.  They  gave  power  to  Congress  to  abolish 
the  slave  trade  at  the  end  of  twenty  years.  They  also 
prohibited  it  in  the  Territories  where  it  did  not  exist. 
They  did  what  they  could  and  yielded  to  the  necessity 
for  the  rest.  I  also  yield  to  all  which  follows  from  that 
necessity.  What  I  would  most  desire  would  be  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  white  and  black  races. 

One  more  point  on  this  Springfield  speech  which 
Judge  Douglas  says  he  has  read  so  carefully.  I  expressed 
my  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  conspiracy  to  perpetuate 
and  nationalize  slavery.  I  did  not  profess  to  know  it, 
nor  do  I  now.  I  showed  the  part  Judge  Douglas  had 
played  in  the  string  of  facts,  constituting  to  my  mind  the 
proof  of  that  conspiracy.  I  showed  the  parts  played  by 
others. 

I  charged  that  the  people  had  been  deceived  into  car- 
rying the  last  Presidential  election,  by  the  impression 
that  the  people  of  the  Territories  might  exclude  slavery 
if  they  choose,  when  it  was  known  in  advance  by  the 
conspirators,  that  the  court  was  to  decide  that  neither 


64  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Congress  nor  the  people  could  so  exclude  slavery.  These 
charges  are  more  distinctly  made  than  anything  else  in 
the  speech. 

Judge  Douglas  has  carefully  read  and  re-read  that 
speech.  He  has  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  contradicted  those 
charges.  In  the  two  speeches  which  I  heard,  he  certainly 
did  not.  On  his  own  tacit  admission  I  renew  that  charge. 
I  charge  him  with  having  been  a  party  to  that  conspiracy 
and  to  that  deception  for  the  sole  purpose  of  nationalizing 
slavery. 


After  this  speech  the  following  correspondence  took 
place  between  the  two  rival  candidates  for  the  United 
States  Senate : — 

Mr.  Lincoln  to  Mr.  Douglas. 

Chicago,  III.,  July  24,  1858. 

Hon.  S.v  A.  Douglas— My  Dear  Sir:  Will  it  be 
agreeable  to  you  to  make  an  arrangement  for  you  and 
myself  to  divide  time,  and  address  the  same  audiences  the 
present  canvass  ?  Mr.  Judd,  who  will  hand  you  this,  is 
authorized  to  receive  your  answer ;  and,  if  agreeable  to 
you,  to  enter  into  the  terms  of  such  arrangement. 
Your  obedient  servant, 

A  LINCOLN. 


Mr.  Douglas  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Chicago,  July  24,  1858. 

Hon.  A.  Lincoln" — Dear  Sir :  Your  note  of  this  date, 
in  which  you  inquire  if  it  would  be  agreeable  tc  me  to 
make  an  arrangement  to  divide  the  time  and  address  the 
same  audiences  during  the  present  canvass,  was  handed 
me  by  Mr.  Judd.  Recent  events  have  interposed  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  such  an  arrangement. 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  65* 

I  went  to  Springfield  last  week  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
ferring with*  the  Democratic  State  Central  Committee 
upon  the  mode  of  conducting  the  canvass,  and  with 
them,  and  under  their  advice,  made  a  list  of  appoint- 
ments covering  the  entire  period  until  late  in  October. 
The  people  of  the  several  localities  have  been  notified  of 
the  times  and  places  of  the  meetings.  Those  appoint- 
ments have  all  been  made  for  Democratic  meetings,  and  ar- 
rangements have  been  made  by  which  th£  Democratic  can- 
didates for  Congress,  for  the  Legislature,  and  other  offices, 
will  be  present  and  address  the  people.  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  that  these  various  candidates,  in  connexion 
with  myself,  will  occupy  the  whole  time  of  the  day  and 
evening,  and  leave  no  opportunity  for  other  speeches. 

Besides,  there  is  another  consideration  which  should 
be  kept  in  mind.  It  has  been  suggested  recently  that  an 
arrangement  had  been  made  to  bring  out  a  third  candi- 
date for  the  United  States  Senate,  who,  with  yourself, 
should  canvass  the  state  in  opposition  to  me,  and  with  no 
other  purpose  than  to  insure  my  defeat,  by  dividing  the 
Democratic  party  for  your  benefit.  If  I  should  make 
this  arrangement  with  you,  it  is  more  than  probable  tbat 
this  other  candidate,  who  has  a  common  object  with  you, 
would  desire  to  become  a  party  to  it,  and  claim  the  right 
to  speak  from  the  same  stand ;  so  that  he  and  you,  in 
concert,  might  be  able  to  take  the  opening  and  closing 
speech  in  every  case. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  my  surprise,  if  it  was 
'your  original  intention  to  invite  such  an  arrangement, 
that  you  should  have  waited  until  after  I  had  made  my 
appointments,  inasmuch  as  we  were  both  in  Chicago 
together  for  several  days  after  my  arrival,  and  again  at 
Bloomington,  Atlanta,  Lincoln,  and  Springfield,  where 
it  was  well  known  I  went  for  the  purpose  of  consulting 
with  the  State  Central  Committee,  and  agreeing  upon 
the  plan  of  the  campaign. 

While,  under  these  circumstances,  I  do  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  make  any  arrangements  which  would  deprive 
the  Democratic  candidates  for  Congress,  State  officers, 
and  the  Legislature  from  participating  in  the  discussion 


66  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

at  the  various  meetings  designated  by  the  Democratic 
State  Central  Committee,  I  will,  in  order  to  accommo- 
date you  as  far  as  it  is  in  my  power  to  do  so,  take  the 
responsibility  of  making  an  arrangement  with  you  for  a 
discussion  between  us  at  one  prominent  point  in  each 
Congressional  District  in  the  State,  except  the  second 
and  sixth  districts,  where  we  have  both  spoken,  and  in 
each  of  which  cases  you  had  the  concluding  speech.  If 
agreeable  to  yon,  I  will  indicate  the  following  places  as 
those  most  suitable  in  the  several  Congressional  Dis- 
tricts at  which  we  should  speak,  to  wit :  Freeport, 
Ottawa,Galesburg,Quincy,  Alton,  Jonesboro  and  Charles- 
ton. I  will  confer  with  you  at  the  earliest  convenient 
opportunity  in  regard  to  the  mode  of  conducting  the 
debate,  the  times  of  meeting  at  the  several  places,  sub- 
ject to  the  condition,  that  where  appointments  have 
already  been  made  by  the  Democratic  State  Central 
Committee  at  any  of  those  places,  I  must  insist  upon 
you  meeting  me  at  the  times  specified. 

Very  respectfully,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  DOUGLAS. 


Mr.  Lincoln  to  Mr.  Douglas. 

Speikgfield,  July  29,  1858. 

Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas — Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  24th 
in  relation  to  an  arrangement  to  divide  time,  and 
address  the  same  audiences,  is  received ;  and,  in  apo- 
logy for  not  sooner  replying,  allow  me  to  say,  that  when 
I  sat  by  you  at  dinner  yesterday,  I  was  not  aware  that 
you  had  answered  my  note,  nor,  certainly,  that  my  own 
note  had  been  presented  to  you.  An  hour  after,  I  saw 
a  copy  of  your  answer  in  the  Chicago  Times,  and, 
reaching  home,  I  found  the  original  awaiting  me.  Pro- 
testing that  your  insinuations  of  attempted  unfairness  on 
my  part  are  unjust,  and  with  the  hope  that  you  did  not 
very  considerately  make  them,  I  proceed  to  reply.     To 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  67 

your  statement  that  "  It  has  been  suggested,  recently, 
that  an  arrangement  had  been  made  to  bring  out  a 
third  candidate  for  the  U.  S.  Senate,  who,  with  yourself, 
should  canvass  the  State  in  opposition  to  me,"  etc.,  I 
can  only  say,  that  such  suggestion  must  have  been  made 
by  yourself,  for  certainly  none  such  has  been  made  by 
or  to  me,  or  otherwise,  to  my  knowledge.  Surely  you 
did  not  deliberately  conclude,  as  you  insinuate,  that  I 
was  expecting  to  draw  you  into  an  arrangement  of 
terms,  to  be  agreed  on  by  yourself,  by  which  a  third 
candidate  and  myself,  "  in  concert,  might  be  able  to 
take  the  opening  and  closing  speech  in  every  case." 

As  to  your  surprise  that  I  did  not  sooner  make  the 
proposal  to  divide  time  with  you,  I  can  only  say,  I  made 
it  as  soon  as  I  resolved  to  make  it.  I  did  not  know  but 
that  such  proposal  would  come  from  you ;  I  waited, 
respectfully,  to  see.  It  may  have  been  well  known  to 
you  that  you  went  to  Springfield  for  the  purpose  of 
agreeing  on  the  plan  of  campaign ;  but  it  was  not  so 
known  to  me.  When  your  appointments  were  an- 
nounced in  the  papers,  extending  only  to  the  21st  of 
August,  I,  for  the  first  time,  considered  it  certain  that 
you  would  make  no  proposal  to  me,  and  then  resolved 
that,  if  my  friends  concurred,  I  would  make  one  to  you. 
As  soon  thereafter  as  I  could  see  and  consult  with 
friends  satisfactorily,  I  did  make  the  proposal.  It  did 
not  occur  to  me  that  the  proposed  arrangement  could 
derange  your  plans  after  the  latest  of  your  appointments 
already  made.  After  that,  there  was,  before  the  elec- 
tion, largely  over  two  months  of  clear  time. 

For  you  to  say  that  we  have  already  spoken  at  Chi- 
cago and  Springfield,  aud  that  on  both  occasions  I  had 
the  concluding  speech,  is  hardly  a  fair  statement.  The 
truth  rather  is  this :  At  Chicago,  July  9th,  you  made  a 
carefully-prepared  conclusion  on  my  speech  of  June 
16th.  Twenty-four  hours  after,  I  made  a  hasty  conclu- 
sion on  yours  of  the  9th.  You  had  six  days  to  prepare, 
and  concluded  on  me  again  at  Bloomington  on  the  16th. 
Twenty-four  hours  after,  I  concluded  again  on  you  at 
Springfield.     In. the  meantime,  you  had  made  another 


68  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

conclusion  on  me  at  Springfield,  which  I  did  not  hear, 
and  of  the  contents  of  which  I  knew  nothing  when  I 
spoke;  so  that  your  speech  made  in  daylight,  and  mine 
at  night,  of  the  17th,  at  Springfield,  were  both  made  in 
perfect  independence  of  each  other.  The  dates  of 
making  all  these  speeches  will  show,  I  think,  that  in  the 
matter  of  time  for  preparation,  the  advantage  has  all 
been  on  your  side ;  and  that  none  of  the  external  cir- 
cumstances have  stood  to  my  advantage. 

I  agree  to  an  arrangement  for  us  to  speak  at  the 
seven  places  you  have  named,  and  at  your  own  times, 
provided  you  name  the  times  at  once,  so  that  I,  as  well 
as  you,  can  have  to  myself  the  time  hot  covered  by  the 
arrangement.  As  to  the  other  details,  I  wish  perfect 
reciprocity,  and  no  more.  I  wish  as  much  time  as  you, 
and  that  conclusions  shall  alternate.     That  is  all. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

P.  S.  As  matters  now  stand,  I  shall  be  at  no  more 
of  your  exclusive  meetings ;  and  for  about  a  week  from 
to-day  a  letter  from  you  will  reach  me  at  Springfield. 

A.  L. 


Mr.  Douglas  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Bement,  Piatt  Co.,  III.  July  30,  1858. 

Dear  Sir:  Tour  letter,  dated  yesterday,  accepting 
my  proposition  for  a  joint  discussion  at  one  prominent 
point  in  each  Congressional  District,  as  stated  in  my 
previous  letter,  was  received  this  morning. 

The  times  and  places  designated  are  as  follows: 


Ottawa,  La  Salle  County 

.    August 

21st, 

1858. 

Freeport,  Stephenson  County 

u 

27th, 

it 

Jonesboro,  Union  County     . 

.     September 

15th, 

u 

Charleston,  Coles  County     . 

u 

18th, 

u 

Galesburgh,  Knox  County  . 

.     October 

7th, 

it 

Quincy,  Adams  County 

u 

13th, 

u 

Alton,  Madison  County       . 

u 

15th, 

(( 

The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  69 

I  agree  to  your  suggestion  that  we  shall  alternately 
open  and  close  the  discussion.  I  will  speak  at  Ottawa 
one  hour,  you  can  reply,  occupying  an  hour  and  a  half, 
and  I  will  then  follow  for  half  an  hour.  At  Freeport, 
you  shall  open  the  discussion  and  speak  one  hour,  I  will 
follow  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  you  can  then  reply 
for  half  an  hour.  We  will  alternate  in  like  manner  in 
each  successive  place. 

Yery  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  DOUGLAS. 

Hon.  A.  Lincoln,  Springfield,  111. 


Mr.  Lincoln  to  Mr.  Douglas. 

Springfield,  July  31,  1858. 

Hon.  S.  A.  Douglas — Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  yester- 
day, naming  places,  times  and  terms,  for  joint  discus- 
sions between  us,  was  received  this  morning.  Although 
by  the  terms,  as  you  propose,  you  take  four  openings 
and  closes,  to  my  th?*ee,  I  accede,  and  thus  close  the 
arrangement.  I  direct  this  to  you  at  Hillsboro,  and 
shall  try  to  have  both  your  letter  and  this  appear  in  the 
Journal  and  Register  of  Monday  morning. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

In  the  course  of  the  debates  which  ensued,  Mr. 
Douglas  gave  the  following  account  of  the  early  rivalry 
between  himself  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  of  the  circum- 
stances in  which  the  boyhood  and  the  youth  of  them 
both  were  trained.  In  no  other  country  in  the  world 
could  two  prominent  men  relate  such  experiences;  in 
no  other  country  would  they,  if  they  could  ;  no  where 
else  could  two  men  rise  from  such  absolute  obscurity  to 


70  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

such  absolute  distinction  so  rapidly,  and  surely,  and 
naturally,  and  easily ;  no  where  else,  if  the  rise  should 
occur,  would, the  men  be  other  than  ashamed  of  what 
is  here  their  proudest  boast. 

In  the  remarks  I  have  made  on  this  platform,  and  the 
position  of  Mr.  Lincoln  upon  it,  I  mean  nothing  person- 
ally disrespectful  or  unkind  to  that  gentleman.  I  have 
known  him  for  nearly  twenty-five  years.  There  were 
many  points  of  sympathy  between  us  when  we  first  got 
acquainted.  We  were  both  comparatively  boys,  and 
both  struggling  with  poverty  in  a  strange  land.  I  was 
a  school-teacher  in  the  town  of  Winchester,  and  he  a 
flourishing  grocery-keeper  in  the  town  of  Salem.  He 
was  more  successful  in  his  occupation  than  I  was  in 
mine,  and  hence  more  fortunate  in  this  world's  goods. 
Lincoln  is  one  of  those  peculiar  men  who  perform  with 
admirable  skill  everything  which  they  undertake.  I 
made  as  good  a  school-teacher  as  I  could,  and  when  a 
cabinet  maker  I  made  a  good  bedstead  and  tables, 
although  my  old  boss  said  I  succeeded  better  with 
bureaus  and  secretaries  than  with  anything  else  ;  but  I 
believe  that  Lincoln  was  always  more  successful  in  busi- 
ness than  I,  for  his  business  enabled  him  to  get  into  the 
Legislature.  I  met  him  there,  however,  and  had  a 
sympathy  with  him,  because  of  the  up-hill  struggle  we 
both  had  in  life.  He  was  then  j  ust  as  good  at  telling  an 
anecdote  as  now.  He  could  beat  any  of  the  boys 
wrestling,  or  running  a  foot-race,  in  pitching  quoits  or 
tossing  a  copper;  could  ruin  more  liquor  than  all  the 
boys  of  the  town  together,  and  the  dignity  and  impar- 
tiality with  which  he  presided  at  a  horse-race  or  iist- 
fight,  excited  the  admiration  and  won  the  praise  of 
everybody  that  was  present  and  participated.  I  sympa- 
thized with  him,  because  he  was  struggling  with  diffi- 
culties, and  so  was  I.  Mr.  Lincoln  served  with  me  in 
the  Legislature  in  1836,  when  we  both  retired,  and  he 
subsided,  or  became  submerged,  and  he  was  lost  sight 
of  as  a  public  man  for  some   years.      In  1846,  when 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  71 

"Wilmot  introduced  his  celebrated  proviso,  and  the  Abo- 
lition tornado  swept  over  the  country,  Lincoln  again 
turned  up  as  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  Sangamon 
district.  I  was  then  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
and  was  glad  to  welcome  my  old  friend  and  companion. 
Whilst  in  Congress,  he  distinguished  himself  by  his 
opposition  to  the  Mexican  war,  taking  the  side  of  the 
common  enemy  against  his  own  country  ;  and  when  he 
returned  home  he  found  that  the  indignation  of  the 
people  followed  him  everywhere,  and  he  was  again 
submerged  or  obliged  to  retire  into  private  life,  forgot- 
ten by  his  former  friends.  He  came  up  again  in  1854, 
just  in  time  to  make  this  Abolition  or  Black  Repub- 
lican platform,  in  company  with  Giddings,  Lovejoy, 
Chase  and  Fred  Douglass,  for  the  Republican  party  to 
stand  upon. 

In  reply  to  this  account,  Lincoln  said : 

Now  I  pass  on  to  consider  one  or  two  more  of  these 
little  follies.  The  Judge  is  wofully  at  fault  about  his 
early  friend  Lincoln  being  a  "  grocery-keeper."  I  don't 
know  as  it  would  be  a  great  sin,  if  I  had  been  ;  but  he  is 
mistaken.  Lincoln  never  kept  a  grocery  anywhere  in 
the  world.  It  is  true  that  Lincoln  did  work  the  latter 
part  of  one  winter  in  a  little  still-house,  up  at  the  head 
of  a  hollow.  And  so  I  think  my  friend,  the  Judge, 
is  equally  at  fault  when  he  charges  me,  at  the  time 
when  I  was  in  Congress,  of  having  opposed  our  soldiers 
who  were  fighting  in  the  Mexican  war.  The  Judge  did 
not  make  his  charge  very  distinctly,  but  I  can  tell  you 
what  he  can  prove,  by  referring  to  the  record.  You 
remember  I  was  an  old  Whig,  and  whenever  the  Demo- 
cratic party  tried  to  get  me  to  vote  that  the  war  had  been 
righteously  begun  by  the  President,  I  would  not  do  it. 
But  whenever  they  asked  for  any  money,  or  land-war- 
rants, or  anything  to  pay  the  soldiers  there  during  all 
that  time,  I  gave  the  same  vote  that  Judge  Douglas  did. 
You  can  think  as  you  please  as  to  whether  that  was  con- 
sistent. Such  is  the  truth ;  and  the  Judge  has  the  right  to 


72  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

make  all  lie  can  out  of  it.  But  when  he,  by  a  general 
charge,  conveys  the  idea  that  I  withheld  supplies  from 
the  soldiers  who  were  fighting  in  the  Mexican  war,  or  did 
anything  else  to  hinder  the  soldiers,  he  is,  to  say  the  least, 
grossly  and  altogether  mistaken,  as  a  consultation  of  the 
records  will  prove  to  him. 

The  record  in  this  volume,  the  speeches  quoted  in  its 
earlier  portion,  fully  corroborate  the  statement  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  regard  to  his  Congressional  career. 

In  reply  to  some  more  serious  charges,  made  at  the 
same  time  by  Senator  Douglas,  Mr.  Lincoln  said : 

My  Fellow- citizens  :  "When  a  man  hears  himself 
somewhat  misrepresented,  it  provokes  him — at  least,  I 
find  it  so  with  myself;  but  when  misrepresentation 
becomes  very  gross  and  palpable,  it  is  more  apt  to  amuse 
him.  The  first  thing  I  see  fit  to  notice,  is  the  fact  that 
Judge  Douglas  alleges,  after  running  through  the  history 
of  the  old  Democratic  and  the  old  Whig  parties,  that  Judge 
Trumbull  and  myself  made  an  arrangement  in  1854,  by 
which  I  was  to  have  the  place  of  Gren.  Shields  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  and  Judge  Trumbull  was  to  have 
the  place  of  Judge  Douglas.  Now,  all  I  have  to  say 
upon  that  subject  is,  that  I  think  no'  man — not  even  Judge 
Douglas — can  prove  it,  because  it  is  not  true.  I  have  no 
doubt  he  is  "conscientious"  in  saying  it.  As  to  those 
resolutions  that  he  took  such  a  length  of  time  to  read,  as 
being  the  platform  of  the  Republican  party  in  1854,  I 
say  I  never  had  anything  to  do  with  them,  and  I  think 
Trumbull  never  had.  Judge  Douglas  cannot  show  that 
either  of  us  ever  did  have  anything  to  do  with  them.  I 
believe  this  is  true  about  those  resolutions :  There  was  a 
call  for  a  Convention  to  form  a  Republican  party  at 
Springfield,  and  I  think  that  my  friend,  Mr.  Lovejoy, 
who  is  here  upon  this  stand,  had  a  hand  in  it.  I  think 
this  is  true,  and  I  think  if  he  will  remember  accurately, 
he  will  be  able  to  recollect  that  he  tried  to  get  me  into  it, 
and  I  would  not  £0  in.     I  believe  it  is  also  true  that  I 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  73 

went  away  from  Springfield  when  the  Convention  was  in 
session,  to  attend  court,  in  Tazewell  County.  It  is  true 
they  did  place  my  name,  though  without  authority,  upon 
the  committee,  and  afterward  wrote  me  to  attend  the 
meeting  of  the  committee,  but  I  refused  to  do  so,  and  I 
never  had  anything  to  do  with  that  organization.  This 
is  the  plain  truth  about  all  that  matter  of  the  resolutions. 
Now,  about  this  story  that  Judge  Douglas  tells  of 
Trumbull  bargaining  to  sell  out  the  old  Democratic 
party,  and  Lincoln  agreeing  to  sell  out  the  old  Whig 
party,  I  have  the  means  of  knowing  about  that — Judge 
Douglas  cannot  have  ;  and  I  know  there  is  no  substance 
to  it  whatever.  Yet  I  have  no  doubt  he  is  "  conscientious" 
about  it.  I  know  that  after  Mr.  Lovejoy  got  into  the 
Legislature  that  winter,  he  complained  of  me  that  I  had 
told  all  the  old  Whigs  of  his  district  that  the  old  Whig 
party  was  good  enough  for  them,  and  some  of  them  voted 
against  him  because  I  told'  them  so.  Now,  I  have  no 
means  of  totally  disproving  such  charges  as  this  which 
the  Judge  makes.  A  man  cannot  prove  a  negative,  but 
he  has  a  right  to  claim  that  when  a  man  makes  an  affirm- 
ative charge,  he  must  offer  some  proof  to  show  the  truth 
of  what  he  says.  I  certainly  cannot  introduce  testimony 
to  show  the  negative  about  things,  but  I  have  a  right  to 
claim  that  if  a  man  says  he  knows  a  thing,  then  he  must 
show  how  he  knows  it.  I  always  have  a  right  to  claim 
this,  and  it  is  not  satisfactory  to  me  that  he  may  be 
"  conscientious"  on  the  subject. 

In  one  of  his  speeches  Judge  Douglas  propounded  a 
series  of  questions  to  his  antagonist,  which  the  latter  thus 
directly  answered. 

Having  said  thus  much,  I  will  take  up  the  Judge's  in- 
terrogatories as  I  find  them  printed  in  the  Chicago  Times, 
and  answer  them  seriatim.  In  order  that  there  may  be 
no  mistake  about  it,  I  have  copied  the  interrogatories  in 
writing,  and  also  my  answers  to  them.  The  first  one  of 
these  interrogatories  is  in  these  words : 


74  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Question  1.  "  T  desire  to  know  whether  Lincoln  to-day 
stands,  as  he  did  in  1854,  in  favor  of  the  unconditional 
repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law?  " 

Answer.  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand  in  favor 
of  the  unconditional  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law. 

Q.  2.  "  I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  stands 
pledged  to-day,  as  he  did  in  1854,  against  the  admission 
of  any  more  slave  States  into  the  Union,  even  if  the  peo- 
ple want  them?  " 

A.  I  do  not  now,  or  ever  did,  stand  pledged  against 
the  admission  of  any  more  slave  States  into  the  Union. 

Q.  3.  "  I  want  to  know  whether  he  stands  pledged 
against  the  admission  of  a  new  State  into  the  Union  with 
such  a  Constitution  as  the  people  of  that  State  may  see 
fit  to  make?  " 

A.  I  do  not  stand  pledged  against  the  admission  of  a 
new  State  into  the  Union,  with  such  a  Constitution  as  the 
people  of  that  State  may  see  fit  to  make. 

Q.  4.  "I  want  to  know  whether  he  stands  to-day 
pledged  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia?" 

A.  I  do  not  stand  to-day  pledged  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Q.  5.  "I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  stands 
pledged  to  the  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade  between  the 
different  States  ?  " 

A.  I  do  not  stand  pledged  to  the  prohibition  of  the 
slave-trade  between  the  different  States. 

Q.  6.  "I  desire  to  know  whether  he  stands  pledged 
to  prohibit  slavery  in  all  the  Territories  of  the  United 
States,  North  as  well  as  South  of-  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise line?  " 

A.  I  am  impliedly,  if  not  expressly,  pledged  to  a 
belief  in  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery 
in  all  the  United  States  Territories. 

Q.  7.  "I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  is  opposed 
to  the  acquisition  of  any  new  territory  unless  slavery  is 
first  prohibited  therein  ?  " 

A.  I  am  not  generally  opposed  to  honest  acquisition 
of  territory;  and,  in  any  given  case,  I  would  or  would 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  75 

not  oppose  such  acquisition,  accordingly  as  I  might  think 
such  acquisition  would  or  would  not  aggravate  the  slavery 
question  among  ourselves. 

This  series  will  aid  materially  in  forming  an  idea  of 
the  position  that  Mr.  Lincoln  to-day  claims  to  occupy  on 
the  important  questions  at  issue  before  the  country ;  for 
although  he  does  not  now  in  person,  as  before,  defend  his 
opinions  and  maintain  his  views  in  the  presence  of  those 
who  are  to  decide  his  political  fortunes,  he  is  just  as  really 
on  trial  as  in  1858 ;  his  former  opinions  and  the  doctrines 
he  then  advanced  are  still  maintained  by  him,  are  those 
by  which  he  will  again  be  judged,  and  by  which  he  and  his 
party  are  to  stand  or  fall.     They  do  not  shirk  the  issue. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  views  in  regard  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
will  be  found  very  succinctly  stated  in  the  following 
extract  from  one  of  his  speeches,  made  by  him  during 
the  campaign.  It  was  delivered  at  Chicago  on  the 
10th  of  July. 

A  little  now  on  the  other  point — the  Dred  Scott 
decision.  Another  of  the  issues,  he  says,  that  is  to  be 
made  with  me,  is  upon  his  devotion  to  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  and  my  opposition  to  it. 

I  have  expressed  heretofore,  and  I  now  repeat  my 
opposition  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  but  I  should  be 
allowed  to  state  the  nature  of  that  opposition,  and  I  ask 
your  indulgence  while  I  do  so.  What  is  fairly  implied 
by  the  term  Judge  Douglas  has  used,  "resistance  to  the 
decision  ?"  I  do  not  resist  it.  If  I  wanted  to  take  Dred 
Scott  from  his  master,  I  would  be  interfering  with 
property,  and  that  terrible  difficulty  that  Judge  Douglas 
speaks  of,  of  interfering  with  property  would  arise.  But 
I  am  doing  no  such  thing  as  that,  but  all  that  I  am  doing 
is  refusing  to  obey  it  as  a  political  rule.  If  I  were  in 
Congress,  and  a  vote  should  come  up  on  a  question 
whether  slavery  should  be  prohibited  in  a  new  Territory, 


76  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

in  spite  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  I  would  vote  that  it 
should. 

Mr.  Lincoln — That  is  what  I  would  do.  Judge  Douglas 
said  last  night,  that  before  the  decision  he  might  advance 
his  opinion,  and  it  might  be  contrary  to  the  decision 
when  it  was  made ;  but  after  it  was  made  he  would  abide 
by  it  until  it  was  reversed.  Just  so !  We  let  this 
property  abide  by  the  decision,  but  we  will  try  to  reverse 
that  decision.  We  will  try  to  put  it  where  Judge 
Douglas  would  not  object,  for  he  says  he  will  obey  it 
until  it  is  reversed.  Somebody  has  to  reverse  that  deci- 
sion, since  it  is  made,  and  we  mean  to  reverse  it,  and  we 
mean  to  do  it  peaceably. 

What  are  the  uses  of  decisions  of  courts  ?  They  have 
two  uses.  As  rules  of  property  they  have  two  uses. 
First — they  decide  upon  the  question  before  the  court. 
They  decide  in  this  case  that  Dred  Scott  is  a  slave. 
Nobody  resists  that.  Not  only  that,  but  they  say  to 
everybody  else,  that  persons  standing  just  as  Dred  Scott 
stands,  is  as  he  is.  That  is,  they  say  that  when  a  ques- 
tion comes  up  upon  another  person,  it  will  be  so  decided 
again,  unless  the  court  decides  in  another  way,  unless  the 
court  overrules  its  decision.  Well,  we  mean  to  do  what 
we  can  to  have  the  court  decide  the  other  way.  That  is 
one  thing  we  mean  to  try  to  do. 

The  sacredness  that  Judge  Douglas  throws  around  this 
decision,  is  a  degree  of  sacredness  that  has  never  been 
before  thrown  around  any  other  decision.  I  have  never 
heard  of  such  a  thing.  Why  decisions  apparently  con- 
trary to  that  decision,  or  that  good  lawyers  thought  were 
contrary  to  that  decision,  have  been  made  by  that  very 
court  before.  It  is  the  first  of  its  kind ;  it  is  an  astonisher 
in  legal  history.  It  is  a  new  wonder  of  the  world.  It  is 
based  upon  falsehood  in  the  main  as  to  the  facts — allega- 
tions of  facts  upon  which  it  stands  are  not  facts  at  all  in 
many  instances,  and  no  decision  made  on  any  question — . 
the  first  instance  of  a  decision  made  under  so  many 
unfavorable  circumstances — thus  placed,  has  ever  been 
held  by  the  profession  as  law,  and  it  has  always  needed 
confirmation  before  the  lawyers  regarded  it  as  settled  law. 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  77 

But  Judge  Douglas  will  have  it  that  all  hands  must  take 
this  extraordinary  decision,  made  under  these  extra- 
ordinary circumstances,  and  give  their  vote  in  Congress 
in  accordance  with  it,  yield  to  it  and  obey  it  in  every 
possible  sense.  Circumstances  alter  cases.  Do  not  gen- 
tlemen here  remember  the  case  of  that  same  Supreme 
Court,  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago,  deciding  that 
a  National  Bank  was  constitutional  ?  I  ask,  if  somebody 
does  not  remember  that  a  National  Bank  was  declared 
to  be  constitutional  ?  Such  is  the  truth,  whether  it  be 
remembered  or  not.  The  Bank  charter  ran  out,  and  a 
re-charter  was  granted  by  Congress.  That  re-charter 
was  laid  before  General  Jackson.  It  was  urged  upon 
him,  when  he  denied  the  constitutionality  of  the  Bank, 
that  the  Supreme  Court  had  decided  that  it  was  constitu- 
tional ;  and  that  General  Jackson  then  said  that  the 
Supreme  Court  had  no  right  to  lay  down  a  rule  to  govern 
a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  Government,  the  members  of 
which  had  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution — that  each 
member  had  sworn  to  support  that  Constitution,  as  he 
understood  it.  I  will  venture  here  to  say,  that  I  have 
heard  Judge  Douglas  say  that  he  approved  of  General 
Jackson  for  that  act.  What  has  now  become  of  all  his 
tirade  about  "  resistance  to  the  Supreme  Court?" 

The  following  tribute  to  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence was  delivered  by  Mr.  Lincoln  during  the  campaign, 
but  not  on  any  occasion  when  his  competitor  was  present. 
It  is  in  a  higher  strain  than  Mr.  Lincoln  often  attempted, 
but  its  success  would  warrant  a  renewal. 

These  communities  (the  thirteen  colonies),  by  their 
representatives  in  old  Independence  Hall,  said  to  the 
world  of  men  :  "  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident, 
that  all  men  are  born  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  inalienable  rights;  that  among  these 
are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  This 
was  their  majestic  interpretation  of  the  economy  of  the 
universe.     This  was  their  lofty,  and  wise,  and  noble 


78  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

understanding  of  the  justice  of  the  Creator  to  His  crea- 
tures. Yes,  gentlemen,  to  all  His  creatures,  to  the  whole 
great  family  of  man.  In  their  enlightened  belief,  nothing 
stamped  with  the  Divine  image  and  likeness  was  sent 
into  the  world  to  be  trodden  on,  and  degraded,  and 
imbruted  by  its  fellows.  They  grasped  not  only  the 
race  of  men  then  living,  but  they  reached  forward  and 
seized  upon  the  furthest  posterity.  They  created  a 
beacon  to  guide  their  children  and  their  children's  chil- 
dren, and  the  countless  myriads  who  should  inhabit  the 
earth  in  other  ages.  Wise  statesmen  as  they  were,  they 
knew  the  tendency  of  prosperity  to  breed  tyrants,  and  so 
they  established  these  great  self-evident  truths  that  when 
in  the  distant  future,  some  man,  some  faction,  some  inte- 
rest, should  set  up  the  doctrine  that  none  but  rich  men, 
or  none  but  white  men,  or  none  but  Anglo-Saxon  white 
men,  were  entitled  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness,  their  posterity  might  look  up  again  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  take  courage  to  renew 
the  battle  which  their  fathers  began,  so  that  truth,  and 
justice,  and  mercy,  and  all  the  humane  and  Christian 
virtues,  might  not  be  extinguished  from  the  land;  so 
that  no  man  would  hereafter  dare  to  limit  and  circum- 
scribe the  great  principles  on  which  the  temple  of  liberty 
was  being  built. 

Now,  my  countrymen,  if  you  have  been  taught  doc- 
trines conflicting  with  the  great  landmarks  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  ;  if  you  have  listened  to  sugges- 
tions which  would  take  away  from  its  grandeur,  and 
mutilate  the  fair  symmetry  of  its  proportions ;  if  you 
have  been  inclined  to  believe  that  all  men  are  not  created 
equal  in  those  inalienable  rights  enumerated  by  our  chart 
of  liberty,  let  me  entreat  you  to  come  back — return  to 
the  fountain,  whose  waters  spring  close  by  the  blood  of 
the  Revolution.  Think  nothing  of  me,  take  no  thought 
for  the  political  fate  of  any  man  whomsoever,  but  come 
back  to  the  truths  that  are  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

You  may  do  anything  with  me  you  choose,  if  you  will 
but  heed  these  sacred  principles.      You  may  not  only 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  79 

defeat  me  for  the  Senate,  but  you  may  take  me  and 
put  me  to  death.  While  pretending  no  indifference  to 
earthly  honors,  I  do  claim  to  be  actuated  in  this  contest 
by  something  higher  than  an  anxiety  for  office.  I  charge 
you  to  drop  every  paltry  and  insignificant  thought  for 
any  man's  success.  It  is  nothing;  I  am  nothing;  Judge 
Douglas  is  nothing.  But  do  not  destroy  that  immortal 
emblem  of  humanity — the  Declaration  of  American  Inde- 
pendence. 

But  we  have  not  space  for  further  extracts  from  those 
memorable  speeches.  They  produced  a  remarkable  effect 
upon  their  hearers,  and  procured  their  author  an  ex- 
tended fame  as  one  of  the  readiest  and  most  popular  of 
popular  orators.  They  have  been  widely  disseminated 
by  the  Republican  party  since.  The  struggle  was  fierce, 
but  it  has  been  said  that 

"  In  perhaps  the  severest  test  that  could  have  been 
applied  to  any  man's  temper — his  political  contest  with 
Senator  Douglas  in  1858 — Mr.  Lincoln  not  only  proved 
himself  an  able  speaker  and  a  good  tactician,  but  demon- 
strated that  it  is  possible  to  carry  on  the  fiercest  political 
warfare  without  once  descending  to  rude  personality  and 
coarse  denunciation.  We  have  it  on  the  authority  of  a 
gentleman  who  followed  Abram  Lincoln  throughout  the 
whole  of  that  campaign,  that  in  spite  of  all  the  tempta- 
tions to  an  opposite  course  to  which  he  was  continuously 
exposed,  no  personalities  against  his  opponent,  no  vitu- 
peration or  coarseness,  ever  defiled  his  lips.  His  kind 
and  genial  nature  lifted  him  above  a  resort  to  any  such 
weapons  of  political  warfare,  and  it  was  the  commonly 
expressed  regret  of  fiercer  natures  that  he  treated  his 
opponent  too  courteously  and  urbanely.  Vulgar  person- 
alities and  vituperation  are  the  last  thing  that  can  be 
truthfully  charged  against  Abram  Lincoln.  His  heart  is 
too  genial,  his  good  sense  too  strong,  and  his  innate  self- 
respect  too  predominant,  to  permit  him  to  indulge  in 
them.     His  nobility  of  nature — and  we  use  the  term 


80  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

advisedly—has  been  as  manifest  through  his  whole  career, 
as  his  temperate  habits,  his  self-reliance,  and  his  mental 
and  intellectual  power." 

The  result  of  the  campaign  was  a  Republican  majority 
on  the  popular  vote. 

FREMONT.       JILLMORE.    BUCHANAN. 

Total  vote  in '56 96,189        37,444        105,348 

LINCOLN.     LECOMPTON.      DOCGLAS. 

Total  vote  in  '58 125,275  5,071        121,130 

L.'s  gain  on '56.     .     .   29,086.       Douglas's  do.    .    .      15,742 
Lincoln's  net  gain,  14,344. 

But  owing  to  the  apportionment  of  the  Legislature, 
Douglas's  majority  in  joint  ballot  was  eight ;  three  in  the 
Senate,  and  five  in  the  House ;  so  that  he  enjoyed  the 
fruits  of  a  victory,  while  Lincoln  had  the  honors,  which, 
in  this  instance,  were  barren  indeed. 

Since  the  close  of  the  campaign  of  1858,  Lincoln  has 
been  the  favorite  candidate  of  Illinois  for  the  Presidency. 
Republicans  too,  in  other  states,  attracted  by  the  fame  he 
obtained  in  this  contest,  have  summoned  him  to  aid  them  ; 
and  at  Columbus,  and  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  he  made  in  the 
fall  of  1859,  two  powerful  and  effective  speeches,  which 
extended  his  reputation.  On  the  27th  of  February,  1860, 
he  delivered  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  another 
speech,  which  the  Republicans  received  at  the  time  with 
great  enthusiasm,  and  afterwards  accepted  as  a  sort  of 
shibboleth  of  their  party.  It  has  since  been  repeated 
several  times  in  the  New  England  States. 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  81 


SPEECH   OF   ABRAM   LINCOLN,    DELIVERED    AT   THE   COOPER 
INSTITUTE,    MONDAY,    Ftb.    27,    1860. 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow-citizens  of  New  York  : 
The  facts  with  which  I  shall  deal  this  evening  are  mainly 
old  and  familiar ;  nor  is  there  anything  new  in  the 
general  use  I  shall  make  of  them.  If  there  shall  be 
any  novelty,  it  will  be  in  the  mode  of  presenting  the 
facts,  and  the  inferences  and  observations  following 
that  presentation. 

In  his  speech  last  autumn,  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  as 
reported  in  The  New  York  Times,  Senator  Douglas  said : 

"  Our  fathers,  when  they  framed  the  Government 
under  which  we  live,  understood  this  question  just  as 
well,  and  even  better  than  we  do  now." 

I  fully  indorse  this,  and  I  adopt  it  as  a  text  for  this 
discourse.  I  so  adopt  it  because  it  furnishes  a  precise 
and  an  agreed  starting  point  for  the  discussion  between 
Republicans  and  that  wing  of  Democracy  headed  by 
Senator  Douglas.  It  simply  leaves  the  inquiry  :  "  What 
was  the  understanding  those  fathers  had  of  the  question 
mentioned  ?" 

What  is  the  frame  of  Government  under  which  we 
live  ? 

The  answer  must  be :  "  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States."  That  Constitution  consists  of  the  ori- 
ginal, framed  in  1787  (and  under  which  the  present 
Government  first  went  into  operation),  and  twelve  sub- 
sequently framed  amendments,  the  first  ten  of  which 
were  framed  in  1789. 

Who  were  our  fathers  that  framed  the  Constitution  ? 
I  suppose  the  "  thirty-nine"  who  signed  the  original 
instrument  may  be  fairly  called  our  fathers  who  framed 
that  part  of  the  present  Government.  It  is  almost 
exactly  true  to  say  they  framed  it,  and  it  is  altogether 
true  to  say  they  fairly  represented  the  opinion  and  sen- 
timent of  the  whole  nation  at  that  time.     Their  names 

4* 


82  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

being  familiar  to  nearly  all,  and  accessible  to  quite  all, 
need  not  now  be  repeated. 

I  take  these  "  thirty-nine,"  for  the  present,  as  bei.ig 
"  our  fathers  who  framed  the  Government  under  which 
we  live." 

"What  is  the  question  which,  according  to  the  text, 
those  fathers  understood  just  as  well,  aud  even  better 
than  we  do  now? 

It  is  this :  Does  the  proper  division  of  local  from 
federal  authority,  or  anything  in  the  Constitution,  forbid 
our  Federal  Government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  our 
Federal  Territories  ? 

Upon  this,  Douglas  holds  the  affirmative,  and  Repub- 
licans the  negative.  This  affirmative  and  denial  form 
an  issue  ;  and  this  issue — this  question — is  precisely 
what  the  text  declares  our  fathers  understood  better 
than  we. 

Let  us  now  inquire  whether  the  "  thirty-nine,"  or  any 
of  them,  ever  acted  upon  this  question  ;  and  if  they  did, 
how  they  acted  upon  it — how  they  expressed  that  better 
understanding. 

In  1784 — three  years  before  the  Constitution — the 
United  States  then  owning  the  Northwestern  Territory, 
and  no  other — the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  had 
before  them  the  question  of  prohibiting  slavery  in  that 
Territory  ;  and  four  of  the  "  thirty-nine"  who  afterward 
framed  the  Constitution  were  in  that  Congress,  and 
voted  on  that  question.  Of  these,  Roger  Sherman, 
Thomas  Mifflin,  and  Hugh  Williamson  voted  for  the 
prohibition — thus  showing  that,  in  their  understanding, 
no  line  divided  local  from  federal  authority,  nor  any- 
thing else,  properly  forbade  the  Federal  Government  to 
control  as  to  slavery  in  federal  territory.  The  other  of 
the  four — James  McIIenry — voted  against  the  prohibi- 
tion, showing  that,  for  some  cause,  he  thought  it  im- 
proper to  vote  for  it. 

In  1787,  still  before  the  Constitution,  but  while  the 
Convention  was  in  session  framing  it,  and  while  the 
Northwestern  Territory  still  was  the  only  territory 
owned  by  the  United  States — the  same  question  of  pro- 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  83 

hibiring  slavery  in  the  territory  again  came  before  the 
Congress  of  the  Confederation  ;  and  three  more  of  the 
"  thirty-nine"  who  afterward  signed  the  Constitution, 
were  in  that  Congress,  and  voted  on  the  question.  They 
were  "William  Blount,  William  Few,  and  Abraham 
Baldwin;  and  they  all  voted  for  the  prohibition — thus 
showing  that,  in  their  understanding,  no  line  dividing 
local  from  federal  authority,  nor  anything  else,  properly 
forbids  the  Federal  Government  to  control  as  to  slavery 
in  federal  territory.  This  time  the  prohibition  became 
a  law,  being  part  of  what  is  now  well  known  as  the 
Ordinance  of  '87. 

The  question  of  federal  control  of  slavery  in  the  ter- 
ritories, seems  not  to  have  been  directly  before  the  Con- 
vention which  framed  the  original  Constitution ;  and 
hence  it  is  not  recorded  that  the  "  thirty-nine  "  or  any 
of  them,  while  engaged  on  that  instrument,  expressed 
any  opinion  on  that  precise  question. 

In  1789,  by  the  first  Congress  which  sat  under  the 
Constitution,  an  act  was  passed  to  enforce  the  Ordinance 
of  '87  including  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  North- 
western Territory.  The  bill  for  this  act  was  reported 
by  one  of  the  "  thirty-nine,"  Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  then 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Penn- 
sylvania. It  went  through  all  its  stages  without  a 
word  of  opposition,  and  finally  passed  both  branches 
without  yeas  and  nays,  which  is  equivalent  to  an  unani- 
mous passage.  In  this  Congress  there  were  sixteen  of 
the  "  thirty-nine"  fathers  who  framed  the  original  Con- 
stitution. They  were  John  Langdon,  Nicholas  Oilman, 
Win,  S.  Johnson,  Roger  Sherman,  Robert  Morris,  Tlios. 
Fitzsimmons,  William  Few,  Abraham  Baldwin,  Rut'us 
King,  William  Patterson,  George  Clymer,  Richard  Bas- 
sett,  George  Read,  Pierce  Butler,  Daniel  Carroll,  James 
Madison. 

This  shows  that,  in  their  understanding,  no  line 
dividing  local  from  federal  authority,  nor  anything  in 
the  Constitution,  properly  forbade  Congress  to  prohibit 
slavery  in  the  federal  territory  ;  else  both  their  fidelity 
to  correct  principle,  and  their  oath  to  support  the  Con- 


84 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 


stitution,  would  have  constrained  them  to  oppose  the 
prohibition. 

Again,  George  Washington,  another  of  the  "  thirty- 
nine,"  was  then  President  of  the  United  States,  and,  as 
such,  approved  and  signed  the  bill,  thus  completing 
its  validity  as  a  law,  and  thus  showing  that,  in  his 
understanding,  no  line  dividing  local  from  federal 
authority,  nor  anything  in  the  Constitution,  forbade  the 
Federal  Government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  federal 
territory. 

No  great  while  after  the  adoption  of  the  original 
Constitution,  North  Carolina  ceded  to  the  Federal 
Government  the  country  now  constituting  the  State  of 
Tennessee ;  and  a  few  years  later,  Georgia  ceded  that 
which  now  constitutes  the  States  of  Mississippi  and 
Alabama.  In  both  deeds  of  cession  it  was  made  a  con- 
dition by  the  ceding  States  that  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment should  not  prohibit  slavery  in  the  ceded  country. 
Besides  this,  slavery  was  then  actually  in  the  ceded 
country.  Under  these  circumstances,  Congress,  on 
taking  charge  of  these  countries  did  not  absolutely  pro- 
hibit slavery  within  them.  But  they  did  interfere  with 
it — take  control  of  it — even  there,  to  a  certain  extent. 
In  1798  Congress  organized  the  Territory  of  Mississippi.- 
In  the  act  of  organization  they  prohibited  the  bringing 
of  slaves  into  the  Territory,  from  any  place  without  the 
United  States,  by  fine,  and  giving  freedom  to  slaves  so 
bought.  This  act  passed  both  branches  of  Coi.gress 
without  yeas  and  nays.  In  that  Congress  were  three  of 
the  "  thirty-nine"  who  framed  the  original  Constitution. 
They  were  John  Langdon,  George  Head,  and  Abraham 
Baldwin.  They  all,  probably,  voted  for  it.  Certainly 
they  would  have  placed  their  opposition  to  it  upon 
record,  if,  in  their  understanding,  any  line  dividing  local 
from  federal  authority,  or  anything  in  the  Constitution, 
properly  forbade  the  Federal  Government  to  control  as 
to  slavery  in  federal  territory. 

In  1803,  the  Federal  Government  purchased  the 
Louisiana  country.  Our  former  territorial  acquisitions 
came  from  certain  of  our  own  States ;  but  this  Louisiana 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  85 

country  was  acquired  from  a  foreign  nation.  In  1804, 
Congress  gave  a  territorial  organization  to  that  part  of 
it  which  now  constitutes  the  State  of  Louisiana.  New- 
Orleans,  lying  within  that  part,  was  an  old  and  com- 
paratively large  city.  There  were  other  considerable 
towns  and  settlements,  and  slavery  was  extensively  and 
thoroughly  intermingled  with  the  people.  Congress  did 
not,  in  the  Territorial  Act,  prohibited  Slavery  ;  but  they 
did  interfere  with  it — take  control  of  it — in  a  more 
marked  and  extensive  way  than  they  did  in  the  case  of 
Mississippi.  The  substance  of  the  provision  therein 
made,  in  relation-  to  slaves,  was: 

First.  That  no  slave  should  be  imported  into  the 
territory  from  foreign  parts. 

Second.  That  no  slave  should  be  carried  into  it  who 
had  been  imported  into  the  United  Stated  since  the  first 
day  of  May,  1798. 

Third.  That  no  slave  should  be  carried  into  it,  except 
by  the  owner,  and  for  his  own  use  as  a  settler;  the 
penalty  in  all  the  cases  being  a  fine  upon  the  violator 
of  the  law,  and  freedom  to  the  slave. 

This  act  also  was  passed  without  yeas  and  nays.  In 
the  Congress  which  passed  it,  there  were  two  of  the 
"thirty-nine."  They  were  Abraham  Baldwin  and  Jo- 
nathan Dayton.  As  stated  in  the  case  of  Mississippi,  it 
is  probable  they  both  voted  for  it.  They  would  not 
have  allowed  it  to  pass  without  recording  their  opposi- 
tion to  it,  if,  in  their  understanding,  it  violated  either 
the  line  proper  dividing  local  from  federal  authority  or 
any  provision  of  the  Constitution. 

In  1819-20,  came  and  passed  the  Missouri  question. 
Many  votes  were  taken,  by  yeas  and  nays,  in  both 
branches  of  Congress,  upon  the  various  phases  of  the 
general  question.  Two  of  the  "  thirty-nine" — Rufus 
King  and  Charles  Pinckney — were  members  of  that  Con- 
gress. Mr.  King  steadily  voted  for  slavery  prohibition 
and  against  all  compromises,  while  Mr.  Pinckney  as 
steadily  voted  against  slavery  prohibition  and  against 
all  compromises.  By  this  Mr.  King  showed  that,  in 
his  understanding,  no  line  dividing  local  from  federal 


86  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

authority,  nor  anything  in  the  Constitution,  was  violated 
by  Congress  prohibiting  slavery  in  federal  territory ; 
while  Mr.  Pinckney,  by  his  votes,  showed  that  in  his 
understanding  there  was  some  sufficient  reason  for 
opposing  such  prohibition  in  that  case. 

The  cases  I  have  mentioned  are  the  only  acts  of  the 
"thirty-nine,"  or  of  any  of  them,  upon  the  direct  issue, 
which  I  have  been  able  to  discover. 

To  enumerate  the  persons  who  thus  acted,  as  being 
four  in  1784,  three  in  1787,  seventeen  in  1789,  three  in 
1798,  two  in  1804,  and  two  in  1819-20— there  would  be 
thirty-one  of  them.  But  this  would  be  counting  John 
Langdon,  Roger  Sherman,  William  Few,  Rums  King, 
and  George  Read,  each  twice,  and  Abraham  Baldwin 
four  times.  The  true  number  of  those  of  the  "  thirty- 
nine"  whom  I  have  shown  to  have  acted  upon  the 
question,  which,  by  the  text  they  understood  better 
than  we,  is  twenty-three,  leaving  sixteen  not  shown  to 
have  acted  upon  it  in  any  way. 

Here,  then,  we  have  twenty-three  out  of  our  "  thirty- 
nine"  fathers  who  framed  the  Government  under  which 
we  live,  who  have,  upon  their  official  responsibility  and 
their  corporal  oaths,  acted  upon  the  very  question  which 
the  text  affirms  they  "  understood  just  as  well,  and  even 
better  than  we  do  now ;"  and  twenty-one  of  them — a 
clear  majority  of  the  "thirty-nine" — so  acting  upon  it  as 
to  make  them  guilty  of  gross  political  impropriety,  and 
wilful  perjury,  if,  in  their  understanding,  any  proper 
division  between  local  and  federal  authority,  or  any- 
thing in  the  Constitution  they  had  made  themselves, 
and  sworn  to  support,  forbade  the  Federal  Government 
to  control  as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  Thus 
the  twenty-one  acted  ;  and,  as  actions  speak  louder  than 
words,  so  actions  under  such  responsibility  speak  still 
louder. 

Two  of  the  twenty-three  voted  against  Congressional 
prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  federal  territories,  in  the 
instances  in  which  they  acted  upon  the  question.  But 
for  what  reasons  they  so  voted  is  not  known.  They 
may  have  done  so  because  they  thought  a  proper  divi- 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  87 

sion  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  some  provision 
or  principle  of  the  Constitution,  stood  in  the  way;  or 
they  may,  without  any  such  question,  have  voted  against 
the  prohibition,  on  what  appeared  to  them  to  be  suffi- 
cient grounds  of  expediency.  No  one  who  has  sworn  to 
support  the  Constitution,  can  conscientiously  vote  for 
what  he  understands  to  be  an  unconstitutional  measure, 
however  expedient  he  may  think  it ;  but  one  may  and 
ought  to  vote  against  a  measure  which  he  deems  con- 
stitutional, if,  at  the  same  time,  he  deems  it  inexpedient. 
It,  therefore,  would  be  unsafe  to  set  down  even  the  two 
who  voted  against  the  prohibition,  as  having  done  so 
because,  in  their  understanding,  any  proper  division  of 
local  from  federal  authority,  or  anything  in  the  Con- 
stitution, forbade  the  Federal  Government  to  control  a3 
to  slavery  in  federal  territory. 

The  remaining  sixteen  of  the  "  thirty-nine,"  so  far  as 
I  have  discovered,  have  left  no  record  of  their  under- 
standing upon  the  direct  question  of  federal  control  of 
slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  But  there  is  much 
reason  to  believe  that  their  understanding  upon  that 
question  would  not  have  appeared  different  from  that 
of  their  twenty-three  compeers,  had  it  been  manifested 
at  all. 

For  the  purpose  of  adhering  rigidly  to  the  text,  I 
have  purposely  omitted  whatever  understanding  may 
have  been  manifested,  by  any  person,  however  distin- 
guished, other  than  the  thirty-nine  fathers  who  framed 
the  original  Constitution ;  and,  for  the  same  reason,  I 
have  also  omitted  whatever  understanding  may  have 
been  manifested  by  any  of  the  "  thirty-nine"  even,  on 
any  other  phase  of  the  general  question  of  slavery.  If 
we  should  look  into  their  acts  and  declarations  on  those 
other  phases,  as  the  foreign  slave-trade,  and  the  morality 
and  policy  of  slavery  generally,  it  would  appear  to  us 
that  on  the  direct  question  of  federal  control  of  slavery 
in  federal  territories,  the  sixteen,  if  they  had  acted  at  all, 
would  probably  have  acted  just  as  tiie  twenty -three  did. 
Among  that  sixteen  were  several  of  the  most  noted  anti- 
slavery  men  of  those  times — as  Dr.  Franklin,  Alexander 


88  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

Hamilton  and  Governeur  Morris — while  there  was  not 
one  now  known  to  have  been  otherwise,  unless  it  may 
be  John  Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina. 

The  sum  of  the  whole  is,  that  of  our  "  thirty-nine" 
fathers  who  framed  the  original  Constitution,  twenty- 
one — a  clear  majority  of  the  whole — certainly  understood, 
that  no  proper  division  of  local  from  federal  authority 
nor  any  part  of  the  Constitution,  forbade  the  Federal 
Government  to  control  slavery  in  the  federal  territories, 
while  all  the  rest  probably  had  the  same  understanding. 
Such,  unquestionably,  was  the  understanding  of  our 
fathers  who  framed  the  original  Constitution  ;  and  the 
text  affirms  that  they  understood  the  question  better 
than  we. 

But,  so  far,  I  have  been  considering  the  understand- 
ing of  the  question  manifested  by  the  framers  of  the 
original  Constitution.  In  and  by  the  original  instrument, 
a  mode  was  provided  for  amending  it ;  and,  as  I  have 
already  stated,  the  present  frame  of  Government  under 
which  we  live  consists  of  that  original,  and  twelve 
amendatory  articles  framed  and.  adopted  since.  Those 
who  now  insist  that  federal  control  of  slavery  in  federal 
territories  violates  the  Constitution,  point  us  to  the  pro- 
visions which  they  suppose  it  thus  violates ;  and,  as  I 
understand,  they  all  fix  upon  provisions  in  these  amen- 
datory articles,  and  not  in  the  original  instrument.  The 
Supreme  Court,  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  plant  them- 
selves upon  the  fifth  amendment,  which  provides  that 
"  no  person  shall  be  deprived,  of  property  without  due 
process  of  law;"  while  Senator  Douglas  and  his  peculiar 
adherents  plant  themselves  upon  the  tenth  amendment, 
providing  that  "  the  powers  not  granted  by  the  Con- 
stitution, are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  and  to 
the  people." 

Now,  it  so  happens  that  these  amendments  were 
framed  by  the  first  Congress  which  sat  under  the  Con- 
stitution— the  identical  Congress  which  passed  the  act 
already  mentioned,  enforcing  the  prohibition  of  slavery 
in  the  northwestern  territory.  Not  only  was  it  the  same 
Congress,  but  they  were  the  identical,  same  individual 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  89 

men  who,  at  the  same  session,  and  at  the  same  time 
within  the  session,  had  under  consideration,  and  in  pro- 
gress toward  maturity,  these  Constitutional  amendments, 
and  this  act  prohibiting  slavery  in  all  the  territory  the 
nation  then  owned.  The  Constitutional  amendments 
were  introduced  before,  and  passed  after  the  act  enforc- 
ing the  Ordinance  of  '87  ;  so  that  during  the  whole  pen- 
dency of  the  act  to  enforce  the  Ordinance,  the  Consti- 
tutional amendments  were  also  pending. 

That  Congress,  consisting  in  all  of  seventy-six  mem- 
bers, including  sixteen  of  the  framers  of  the  original 
Constitution,  as  before  stated,  were  pre-eminently  our 
fathers  who  framed  that  part  of  the  Government  under 
which  we  live,  which  is  now  claimed  as  forbidding  the 
Federal  Government  to  control  slavery  in  the  federal 
territories. 

Is  it  not  a  little  presumptuous  in  any  one  at  this  day 
to  affirm  that  the  two  things  which  that  Congress  delibe- 
rately framed,  and  carried  to  maturity  at  the  same  time, 
are  absolutely  inconsistent  with  each  other?  And  does 
not  such  affirmation  become  impudently  absurd  when 
coupled  with  the  other  affirmation,  from  the  same  mouth, 
that  those  who  did  the  two  things  alleged  to  be  incon- 
sistent understood  whether  they  really  were  inconsistent 
better  than  we — better  than  he  who  affirms  that  they  are 
inconsistent  ? 

It  is  surely  safe  to  assume  that  the  "  thirty-nine " 
framers  of  the  original  Constitution,  and  the  seventy-six 
members  of  the  Congress  which  framed  the  amendments 
thereto,  taken  together,  do  certainly  include  those  who 
may  be  fairly  called  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the  Gov- 
ernment under  which  we  live."  And  so  assuming,  I 
defy  any  man  to  show  that  any  one  of  them  ever,  in  his 
whole  life,  declared  that,  in  his  understanding,  any  proper 
division  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  any  part  of 
the  Constitution,  forbade  the  Federal  Government  to  con- 
trol as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  I  go  a  step 
further.  I  defy  any  one  to  show  that  any  living  man  in 
the  whole  world  ever  did,  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century  (and  I  might  almost  say  prior  to  the 


90  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

beginning  of  the  last  half  of  the  present  century),  declare 
that,  in  his  understanding,  any  proper  division  of  local 
from  federal  authority,  or  any  part  of  the  Constitution, 
forbade  the  Federal  Government  to  control  as  to  slavery 
in  the  federal  territories.  To  those  who  now  so  declare, 
I  give,  not  only  u  our  fathers  who  framed  the  Govern- 
ment under  which  we  live,"  but  with  them  all  other 
living  men  within  the  century  in  which  it  was  framed, 
among  whom  to  search,  and  they  shall  not  be  able  to  find 
the  evidence  of  a  single  man  agreeing  with  them. 

Now,  and  here,  let  me  guard  a  little  against  being 
misunderstood.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  we  are  bound  to 
follow  implicitly  in  whatever  our  fathers  did.  To  do  so, 
would  be  to  discard  all  the  lights  of  current  experience — 
to  reject  all  progress — all  improvement.  What  I  do  say 
is,  that  if  we  would  supplant  the  opinions  and  policy  of 
our  fathers  in  any  case,  we  should  do  so  upon  evidence 
so  conclusive,  and  argument  so  clear,  that  even  their 
great  authority,  fairly  considered  and  weighed,  cannot 
stand ;  and  most  surely  not  in  a  case  whereof  we  our- 
selves declare  they  understood  the  question  better  than 
we. 

If  any  man,  at  this  day,  sincerely  believes  that  a  proper 
division  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  any  part  of 
the  Constitution,  forbids  the  Federal  Government  to 
control  as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories,  he  is  right 
to  say  so,  and  to  enforce  his  position  by  all  truthful 
evidence  and  fair  argument  which  he  can.  But  he  has 
no  right  to  mislead  others,  who  have  less  access  to  history 
and  less  leisure  to  study  it,  into  the  false  belief  that  "our 
fathers,  who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we 
live,"  were  of  the  same  opinion — thus  substituting  false- 
hood and  deception  for  truthful  evidence  and  fair  argu- 
ment. If  any  man  at  this  day  sincerely  believes  "  our 
fathers,  who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we 
live,"  used  and  applied  principles,  in  other  cases,  which 
ought  to  have  led  them  to  understand  that  a  proper 
division  of  local  from  federal  authority  or  some  part  of 
the  Constitution,  forbids  the  Federal  Government  to 
control  as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories,  he  is  right 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  91 

to  say  so.  But  he  should,  at  the  same  time,  brave  the 
responsibility  of  declaring  that,  in  his  opinion,  he  under- 
stands their  principles  better  than  they  did  themselves; 
and  especially  should  he  not  shirk  that  responsibility  by 
asserting  that  they  "  understood  the  question  just  as  well, 
and  even  better  than  we  do  now." 

But  enough.  Let  all  who  believe  that  "  our  fathers, 
who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we  live,  under- 
stood this  question  just  as  well,  and  even  better  than  we 
do  now,"  speak  as  they  spoke,  and  act  as  they  acted  upon 
it.  This  is  all  Eepublicans  ask — all  Kepublicans  desire — 
in  relation  to  slavery.  As  those  fathers  marked  it,  so  let 
it  be  again  marked,  as  an  evil  not  to  be  extended,  but  to 
be  tolerated  and  protected  only  because  of  and  so  far  as 
its  actual  presence  among  us  makes  that  toleration  and 
protection  a  necessity.  Let  all  the  guaranties  those 
fathers  gave  it,  be,  not  grudgingly,  but  fully  and  fairly 
maintained.  For  this  Republicans  contend,  and  with, 
this,  so  far  as  I  know  or  believe,  they  will  be  content. 

And  now,  if  they  would  listen — as  I  suppose  they 
will  not — I  would  address  a  few  words  to  the  southern 
people. 

I  would  say  to  them  :  You  consider  yourselves  a  rea- 
sonable and  a  just  people;  and  I  consider  that  in  the 
general  qualities  of  reason  and  justice  you  are  not  inferior 
to  any  other  people.  Still,  when  you  speak  of  us  Repub- 
licans, you  do  so  only  to  denounce  us  as  reptiles,  or,  at 
the  best,  as  no  better  than  outlaws.  You  will  grant  a 
hearing  to  pirates  or  murderers,  but  nothing  like  it  to 
"  Black  Republicans."  In  all  your  contentions  with  one 
another,  each  of  you  deems  an  unconditional  condemna- 
tion of  "Black  Republicanism"  as  the  first  thing  to  be 
attended  to.  •  Indeed,  such  condemnation  of  us  seems  to 
be  an  indispensable  prerequisite — license,  so  to  speak — 
among  you  to  be  admitted  or  permitted  to  speak  at  all. 

Now,  can  you,  or  not,  be  prevailed  upon  to  pause  and 
to  consider  whether  this  is  quite  just  to  us,  or  even  to 
yourselves? 

Bring  forward  your  charges  and  specifications,  and 
then  be  patient  long  enough  to  hear  us  deny  or  justify. 


g2  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

You  say  we  are  sectional.  "We  deny  it.  That  makes 
an  issue ;  and  the  burden  of  proof  is  upon  you.  You 
produce  your  proof;  and  what  is  it?  Why,  that  our 
party  has  no  existence  in  your  section — gets  no  votes  in 
your  section.  The  fact  is  substantially  true  ;  but  does  it 
prove  the  issue?  If  it  does,  then  in  case  we  should, 
without  change  of  principle,  begin  to  get  votes  in  your 
section,  we  should  thereby  cease  to  be  sectional.  You 
cannot  escape  this  conclusion ;  and  yet,  are  you  willing 
to  abide  by  it  ?  If  you  are,  you  will  probably  soon  find 
that  we  have  ceased  to  be  sectional,  for  we  shall  get  votes 
in  your  section  this  very  year.  You  will  then  begin  to 
discover,  as  the  truth  plainly  is,  that  your  proof  does  not 
touch  the  issue.  The  fact  that  we  get  no  votes  in  your 
section  is  a  fact  of  your  making,  and  not  of  ours.  And 
if  there  be  fault  in  that  fact,  that  fault  is  primarily  yours, 
and  remains  so  until  you  show  that  we  repel  you  by 
some  wrong  principle  or  practice.  If  we  do  repel  you 
by  any  wrong  principle  or  practice,  the  fault  is  ours ;  but 
this  brings  us  to  where  you  ought  to  have  started — to  a 
discussion  of  the  right  or  wrong  of  our  principle.  If 
our  principle,  put  in  practice,  would  wrong  your  section 
for  the  benefit  of  ours,  or  for  any  other  object,  then  our 
principle,  and  we  with  it,  are  sectional,  and  are  justly 
opposed  and  denounced  as  such.  Meet  us,  then,  on  the 
question  of  whether  our  principle,  put  in  practice,  would 
wrong  your  section  ;  and  so  meet  it  as  if  it  were  possible 
that  something  may  be  said  on  our  side.  Do  you  accept 
the  challenge  ?  No  ?  Then  you  really  believe  that  the 
principle  which  our  fathers  who  framed  the  Government 
under  which  we  live  thought  so  clearly  right  as  to  adopt 
it,  and  indorse  it  again  and  again  upon  their  official  oaths, 
is,  in  fact,  so  clearly  wrong  as  to  demand  your  condem- 
nation without  a  moment's  consideration. 

Some  of  you  delight  to  flaunt  in  our  faces  the  warning 
against  sectional  parties  given  by  Washington  in  his 
Farewell  Address.  Less  than  eight  years  before  Wash- 
ington gave  that  warning,  he  had,  as  President  of  the 
United  States,  approved  and  signed  an  act  of  Congress, 
enforcing  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Northwestern 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  93 

Territory,  which  act  embodied  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment upon  that  subject,  up  to  and  at  the  very  moment 
he  penned  that  warning;  and  about  one  year  after  he 
penned  it  he  wrote  Lafayette  that  he  considered  that 
prohibition  a  wise  measure,  expressing  in  the  same  con- 
nection his  hope  that  we  should  some  time  have  a  con- 
federacy of  free  States. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  and  seeing  that  sectionalism  has 
since  arisen  upon  this  same  subject,  is  that  warning  a 
weapon  in  your  hands  against  us,  or  in  our  hands  against 
you  ?  Could  Washington  himself  speak,  would  he  cast 
the  blame  of  that  sectionalism  upon  us,  who  sustain  his 
policy,  or  upon  you  who  repudiate  it?  We  respect  that 
warning  of  Washington,  and  we  commend  it  to  you, 
together  with  his  example  pointing  to  the  right  applica- 
tion of  it. 

But  you  say  you  are  conservative — eminently  con- 
servative— while  we  are  revolutionary,  destructive,  or 
something  of  the  sort.  What  is  conservatism?  Is  it 
not  adherence  to  the  old  and  tried,  against  the  new  and 
untried?  We  stick  to,  contend  for,  the  identical  old 
policy  on  the  point  in  controversy  which  was  adopted  by 
our  lathers  who  framed  the  Government  under  which 
we  live ;  while  you  with  one  accord  reject,  and  scout,  and 
spit  upon  that  old  policy,  and  insist  upon  substituting 
something  new.  True,  you  disagree  among  yourselves 
as  to  what  that  substitute  shall  be.  You  have  consider- 
able variety  of  new  propositions  and  plans,  but  you  are 
unanimous  in  rejecting  and  denouncing  the  old  policy 
of  the  fathers.  Some  of  you  are  for  reviving  the  foreign 
slave-trade ;  some  for  a  Congressional  Slave-Code  for  the 
Territories  ;  some  for  Congress  forbidding  the  Territories 
to  prohibit  Slavery  within  their  limits  ;  some  for  main- 
taining Slavery  in  the  Territories  through  the  Judiciary ; 
some  for  the  "  gur-reat  pur-rinciple"  that  "  if  one  man 
would  enslave  another,  no  third  man  should  object," 
fantastically  called  "  Popular  Sovereignty;"  but  never  a 
man  among  you  in  favor  of  federal  prohibition  of  slavery 
in  federal  territories,  according  to  the  practise  of  our 
fathers  who  framed  the  Government   under  which  we 


94  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

live.  Not  one  of  all  your  various  plans  can  show  a  pre- 
cedent or  an  advocate  in  the  century  within  which  our 
Government  originated.  Consider,  then,  whether  your 
claim  of  conservatism  for  yourselves,  and  your  charge 
of  destructiveness  against  us,  are  based  on  the  most  clear 
and  stable  foundations. 

Again,  yon  say  we  have  made  the  slavery  question 
more  prominent  than  it  formerly  was.  We  deny  it. 
We  admit  that  it  is  more  prominent,  but  we  deny  that 
we  made  it  so.  It  was  not  we,  but  you,  who  discarded 
the  old  policy  of  the  fathers.  We  resisted,  and  still 
resist,  your  innovation ;  and  thence  comes  the  greater 
prominence  of  the  question.  Would  you  have  that 
question  reduced  to  its  former  proportions  ?  Go  back 
to  that  old  policy.  What  has  been  will  be  again,  under 
the  same  conditions.  If  you  would  have  the  peace  of 
the  old  times,  re-adopt  the  precepts  and  policy  of  the 
old  times. 

You  charge  that  we  stir  up  insurrections  among  your 
slaves.  We  deny  it ;  and  what  is  your  proof?  Harper's 
Ferry!  John  Brown!  John  Brown  was  no  Repub- 
lican ;  and  you  have  failed  to  implicate  a  single  Repub- 
lican in  his  Harper's  Ferry  enterprise.  If  any  member 
of  our  party  is  guilty  in  that  matter,  you  know  it  or  you 
do  not  know  it.  If  you  do  know  it,  you  are  inexcusable 
to  not  designate  the  man,  and  prove  the  fact.  If  yon  do 
not  know  it,  you  are  inexcusable  to  assert  it,  and  especi- 
ally to  persist  in  the  assertion  after  you  have  tried  and 
failed  to  make  the  proof.  Tou  need  not  be  told  that 
persisting  in  a  charge  which  one  does  not  know  to  be 
true,  is  simply  malicious  slander. 

Some  of  you  admit  that  no  Republican  designedly 
aided  or  encouraged  the  Harper's  Ferry  affair;  but  still 
insist  that  our  doctrines  and  declarations  necessarily 
lead  to  such  results.  We  do  not  believe  it.  We  know 
we  hold  to  no  doctrine,  and  make  no  declarations,  which 
were  not  held  to  and  made  by  our  fathers  who  framed 
the  Government  under  which  we  live.  You  never  dealt- 
fairly  by  us  in  relation  to  this  affair.  When  it  occurred, 
some  important  State  elections  were  near  at  hand,  and 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  95 

you  were  in  evident  glee  with  the  belief  that,  by  charg- 
ing the  blame  upon  us,  you  could  get  an  advantage  of 
us  in  those  elections.  The  elections  came,  and  your 
expectations  were  not  quite  fulfilled.  Every  Republi- 
can man  knew  that,  as  to  himself  at  least,  your  charge 
was  a  slander,  and  he  was  not  much  inclined  by  it  to  cast 
his  vote  in  your  favor.  Republican  doctrines  and  decla- 
rations are  accompanied  with  a  continual  protest  against 
any  interference  whatever  with  your  slaves,  or  with  you 
about  your  slaves.  Surely,  this  does  not  encourage 
them  to  revolt.  True,  we  do,  in  common  with  our 
fathers,  who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we 
bve,  declare  our  belief  that  slavery  is  wrong;  but  the 
slaves  do  not  hear  us  declare  even  this.  For  anything 
we  say  or  do,  the  slaves  would  scarcely  know  there  is  a 
Republican  party.  I  believe  they  would  not,  in  fact, 
generally  know  it  but  for  your  misrepresentations  of  us, 
in  their  hearing.  In  }'our  political  contests  among  your- 
selves, each  faction  charges  the  other  with  sympathy 
with  Black  Republicanism  ;  and  then,  to  give  point  to 
the  charge,  defines  Black  Republicanism  to  simply  be 
insurrection,  blood  and  thunder  among  the  slaves. 

Slave  insurrections  are  no  more  common  now  than 
they  were  before  the  Republican  party  was  organized. 
"What  induced,  the  Southampton  insurrection,  twenty- 
eight  years  ago,  in  which,  at  least,  three  times  as  many 
lives  were  lost  as  at  Harper's  Ferry?  You  can  scarcely 
stretch  your  very  elastic  fancy  to  the  conclusion  that 
Southampton  was  got  up  by  Black  Republicanism.  In 
the  present  state  of  things  in  the  United  States,  I  do  not 
think  a  general,  or  even  a  very  extensive  slave  insurrec- 
tion, is  possible.  The  indispensable  concert  of  action 
cannot  be  attained.  The  slaves  have  no  means  of  rapid 
communication;  nor  can  incendiary  free  men,  black  or 
white,  supply  it.  The  explosive  materials  are  every 
where  in  parcels ;  but  there  neither  are,  nor  can  be  sup- 
plied, the  indispensable  connecting  trains. 

Much  is  said  by  southern  people  about  the  affection 
of  slaves  for  their  masters  and  mistresses ;  and  a  part  of 
it,  at  least,  is  true.    A  plot  for  an  uprising  could  scarcely 


96  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

be  devised  and  communicated  to  twenty  individuals 
before  some  one  of  them,  to  save  the  life  of  a  favorite 
master  or  mistress,  would  divulge  it.  This  is  the  rule; 
and  the  slave-revolution  in  Hayti  was  not  an  exception 
to  it,  but  a  case  occurring  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances. The  gunpowder-plot  of  British  history,  though 
not  connected  with  slaves,  was  more  in  point.  In  that 
case,  only  about  twenty  were  admitted  to  the  secret ; 
and  yet  one  of  them,  in  his  anxiety  to  save  a  friend, 
betrayed  the  plot  to  that  friend,  and,  by  consequence, 
averted  the  calamity.  Occasional  poisonings  from  the 
kitchen,  and  open  or  stealthy  assassinations  in  the  field, 
and  local  revolts  extending  to  a  score  or  so,  will  con- 
tinue to  occur  as  the  natural  results  of  slavery ;  but  no 
general  insurrection  of  slaves,  as  I  think,  can  happen 
in  this  country  for  a  long  time.  Whoever  much  fears, 
or  much  hopes,  for  such  an  event,  will  be  alike  dis- 
appointed. 

In  the  language  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  uttered  many  years 
ago,  "It  is  still  in  our- power  to  direct  the  process  of 
emancipation,  and  deportation,  peaceably,  and  in  such 
slow  degrees,  as  that  the  evil  will  wear  off  insensibly ; 
and  their  place  be,  pari  passu,  filled  up  by  free  white 
laborers.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  left  to  force  itself  on, 
human  nature  must  shudder  at  the  prospect  held  up." 

Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  mean  to  say,  nor  do  I,  that  the 
power  of  emancipation  is  in  the  Federal  Government. 
He  spoke  of  Virginia ;  and,  as  to  the  power  of  emanci- 
pation, I  speak  of  the  slaveholding  States  only. 

The  Federal  Government,  however,  as  we  insist,  has 
the  power  of  restraining  the  extension  of  the  institution 
— the  power  to  insure  that  a  6lave  insurrection  shall 
never  occur  on  any  American  soil  which  is  now  free 
from  slavery. 

John  Brown's  effort  was  peculiar.  It  was  not  a  slave 
insurrection.  It  was  an  attempt  by  white  men  to  get 
up  a  revolt  among  slaves,  in  which  the  slaves  refused 
to  participate.  In  tact,  it  was  so  absurd  that  the  slaves, 
with  all  their  ignorance,  saw  plainly  enough  it  could 
not  succeed.     That  affair,  in  its  philosophy,  corresponds 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  gl 

with  the  many  attempts,  related  in  history,  at  the  assas- 
sination of  kings  and  emperors.  An  enthusiast  broods 
over  the  oppression  of  a  people  till  he  fancies  himself 
commissioned  by  Heaven  to  liberate  them.  He  ven- 
tures the  attempt,  which  ends  in  little  else  than  in  his 
own  execution.  Orsini's  attempt  on  Louis  Napoleon, 
and  John  Brown's  attempt  at  Harper's  Ferry  were,  in 
their  philosophy,  precisely  the  same.  The  eagerness  to 
cast  blame  on  old  England  in  the  one  case,  and  on  New 
England  in  the  other,  does  not  disprove  the  sameness  of 
the  two  things. 

And  how  much  would  it  avail  you,  if  you  could,  by 
the  use  of  John  Brown,  Helper's  book,  and  the  like, 
break  up  the  Republican  organization  ?  Human  action 
can  be  modified  to  some  extent,  but  human  nature  can- 
not be  changed.  There  is  a  judgment  and  a  feeling 
against  slavery  in  this  nation,  which  cast  at  least  a 
million  and  a  half  of  votes.  You  cannot  destroy  that 
judgment  and  feeling — that  sentiment — by  breaking  up 
the  political  organization  which  rallies  around  it.  You 
can  scarcely  scatter  and  disperse  an  army  which  has 
been  formed  into  order  in  the  face  of  your  heaviest  fire; 
but  if  you  could,  how  much  would  you  gain  by  forcing 
the  sentiment  which  created  it  out  of  the  peaceful  chan- 
nel of  the  ballot  box,  into  some  other  channel.  What 
would  that  other  channel  probably  be  ?  Would  the 
number  of  John  Browns  be  lessened  or  enlarged  b}r  the 
operation. 

But  you  will  break  up  the  Union  rather  than  submit 
to  a  denial  of  your  Constitutional  rights, 

That  has  a  somewhat  reckless  sound  ;  but  it  would  be 
palliated,  if  not  fully  justified,  were  we  proposing,  by  the 
mere  force  of  numbers,  to  deprive  you  of  some  right, 
plainly  written  down  in  the  Constitution.  But  we  are 
proposing  no  such  thing. 

When  you  make  these  declarations,  you  have  a  specific 
and  well-understood  allusion  to  an  assumed  Constitu- 
tional right  of  yours,  to  take  slaves  into  the  federal  ter- 
ritories, and  hold  them  there  as  property.  But  no  such 
right  is  specifically  written  in  the  Constitution.    That 

5 


98  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

instrument  is  literally  silent  about  any  such  right.  We, 
on  the  contrary,  deny  that  such  a  right  has  any  exis- 
tence in  the  Constitution,  even  by  implication. 

Your  purpose,  then,  plainly  stated,  is,  that  you  will 
destroy  the  Government,  unless  you  be  allowed  to  con- 
strue and  enforce  the  Constitution  as  you  please,  on  all 
points  in  dispute  between  you  and  us.  You  will  rule  or 
ruin  in  all  events. 

This,  plainly  stated,  is  your  language  to  us.  Perhaps 
you  will  say  the  Supreme  Court  has  decided  the  disputed 
Constitutional  question  in  your  favor.  Not  quite  so. 
But  waiving  the  lawyer's  distinction  between  dictum  and' 
decision,  the  Courts  have  decided  the  question  for  you 
in  a  sort  of  way.  The  Courts  have  substantially  said,  it 
is  your  Constitutional  right  to  take  slaves  into  the  federal 
territories,  and  to  hold  them  there  as  property. 

When  I  say  the  decision  was  made  in  a  sort  of  way,  I 
mean  it  was  made  in  a  divided  Court  by  a  bare  majority 
of  the  Judges,  and  they  not  quite  agreeing  with  one  an- 
other in  the  reasons  for  making  it ;  that  it  is  so  made  as 
that  its  avowed  supporters  disagree  with  one  another 
about  its  meaning,  and  that  it  was  mainly  based  upon  a 
mistaken  statement  of  fact — the  statement  in  the  opinion 
that  "  the  right  of  property  in  a  slave  is  distinctly  and 
expressly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution." 

An  inspection  of  the  Constitution  will  show  that  the 
right  of  property  in  a  slave  is  not  distinctly  and  expressly 
affirmed  in  it.  Bear  in  mind  the  Judges  do  not  pledge 
their  judicial  opinion  that  such  right  is  impliedly  affirmed 
in  the  Constitution  ;  but  they  pledge  their  veracity  that 
it  is  distinctly  and  expressly  affirmed  there — "  distinctly  " 
that  is,  not  mingled  with  anything  else — "  expressly  " 
that  is,  in  words  meaning  just  that,  without  the  aid  of 
any  inference,  and  susceptible  of  no  other  meaning. 

If  they  had  only  pledged  their  judicial  opinion  that 
such  right  is  affirmed  in  the  instrument  by  implication, 
it  would  be  open  to  others  to  show  that  neither  the  word 
"  slave  "  nor  "  slavery  "  is  to  be  found  in  the  Constitution, 
nor  the  word  "  property  "  even,  in  any  connection  with 
language  alluding  to  the  things  slave,  or  slavery,  and  that 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  99 

wherever  in  that  instrument  the  slave  is  alluded  to,  he  is 
called  a  "person;  "  and  wherever  his  master's  legal  right 
in  relation  to  him  is  alluded  to,  it  is  spoken  of  as  "  service 
or  labor  due,"  as  a  "debt"  payable  in  service  or  labor. 
Also,  it  would  be  open  to  show,  by  contemporaneous 
history,  that  this  mode  of  alluding  to  slaves  and  slavery, 
instead  of  speaking  of  them,  was  employed  on  purpose  to 
exclude  from  the  Constitution  the  idea  that  there  could 
be  property  in  man. 

To  show  all  this  is  easy  and  certain. 

"When  this  obvious  mistake  of  the  Judges  shall  be 
brought  to  their  notice,  it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  that 
they  will  withdraw  the  mistaken  statement,  and  reconsider 
the  conclusion  based  upon  it  ? 

And  then  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  "  our  fathers, 
who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we  live  " — the 
men  who  made  the  Constitution — decided  this  same  Con- 
stitutional question  in  our  favor,  long  ago — decided  it 
without  a  division  among  themselves,  when  making  the 
decision  ;  without  division  among  themselves  about  the 
meaning  of  it  after  it  was  made,  and  so  far  as  any  evidence 
is  left,  without  basing  it  upon  any  mistaken  statement  of 
facts. 

Under  all  these  circumstances,  do  you  really  feel  your- 
selves justified  to  break  up  this  Government,  unless  such 
a  court  decision  as  yours  is  shall  be  at  once  submitted  to 
as  a  conclusive  and  final  rule  of  political  action  ? 

But  you  will  not  abide  the  election  of  a  Repulican 
President.  In  that  supposed  event,  you  say,  you  will 
destroy  the  Union  ;  and  then,  you  say,  the  great  crime  of 
having  destroyed  it  will  be  upon  us ! 

That  is  cool.  A  highwayman  holds  a  pistol  to  my  ear, 
and  mutters  through  his  teeth,  "  stand  and  deliver,  or  I 
shall  kill  you,  and  then  you  will  be  a  murderer !  " 

To  be  sure,  what  the  robber  demanded  of  me — my 
money — was  my  own  ;  and  I  had  a  clear  right  to  keep  it ; 
but  it  was  no  more  my  own  than  my  vote  is  my  own  ; 
and  threat  of  death  to  me,  to  extort  my  money,  and  the 
threat  of  destruction  to  the  Union,  to  extort  my  vote,  can 
scarcely  be  distinguished  in  principle. 


loo  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

A  few  words  now  to  Kepublicans.  It  is  exceedingly 
desirable  that  all  parts  of  this  great  Confederacy  shall  be 
at  peace,  and  in  harmony,  one  with  another.  Let  us 
Eepublicans  do  our  part  to  have  it  so.  Even  though 
much  provoked,  let  us  do  nothing  through  passion  and 
ill  temper.  Even  though  the  southern  people  will  not 
so  much  as  listen  to  us,  let  us  calmly  consider  their  de- 
mands, and  yield  to  them  if,  in  our  deliberate  view  of  our 
duty,  we  possibly  can.  Judging  by  all  they  say  and  do, 
and  by  the  subject  and  nature  of  their  controversy  with 
us,  let  us  determine,  if  we  can,  what  will  satisfy  them  ? 

Will  they  be  satisfied  if  the  Territories  be  uncondition- 
ally surrendered  to  them  ?  We  know  they  will  not.  In 
all  their  present  complaints  against  us,  the  Territories  are 
scarcely  mentioned.  Invasions  and  insurrections  are  the 
rage  now.  Will  it  satisfy  them  if,  in  the  future,  we  have 
nothing  to  do  with  invasions  and  insurrections?  We 
know  it  will  not.  We  so  know  because  we  know  we 
never  had  anything  to  do  with  invasions  and  insurrec- 
tions ;  and  yet  this  total  abstaining  does  not  exempt  us 
from  the  charge  and  the  denunciation. 

The  question  recurs,  what  will  satisfy  them  ?  Simply 
this :  We  must  not  only  let  them  alone,  but  we  must, 
somehow,  convince  them  that  we  do  let  them  alone.  This, 
we  know  by  experience,  is  no  easy  task.  We  have  been 
so  trying  to  convince  them,  from  the  very  beginning  of 
our  organization,  but  with  no  success.  In  all  our  plat- 
forms and  speeches  we  have  constantly  protested  our  pur- 
pose to  let  them  alone ;  but  this  has  had  no  tendency  to 
convince  them.  Alike  unavailing  to  convince  them  is 
the  fact  that  they  have  never  detected  a  man  of  us  in  any 
attempt  to  disturb  them. 

These  natural,  and  apparently  adequate  means  all  fail- 
ing, what  will  convince  them  ?  This,  and  this  only : 
cease  to  call  slavery  wrong,  and  join  them  in  calling  it 
right.  And  this  must  be  done  thoroughly — done  in  acts 
as  well  as  in  words.  Silence  will  not  be  tolerated — we 
must  place  ourselves  avowedly  with  them.  Douglas's 
new  sedition  law  must  be  enacted  and  enforced,  suppress- 
ing all  declarations  that  slavery  is  wrong,  whether  made 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  101 

in  politics,  in  presses,  in  pulpits,  or  in  private.  We  must 
arrest  and  return  their  fugitive  slaves  with  greedy  plea- 
sure. We  must  pull  down  our  Free-State  Constitutions. 
The  whole  atmosphere  must  be  disinfected  from  all  taint 
of  opposition  to  slavery,  before  they  will  cease  to  believe 
that  all  their  troubles  proceed  from  us. 

I  am  quite  aware  they  do  not  state  their  case  precisely 
in  this  way.  Most  of  them  would  probably  say  to  us, 
"  Let  us  alone,  do  nothing  to  us,  and  say  what  you  please 
about  slavery."  But  we  do  let  them  alone — have  never 
disturbed  them — so  that,  after  all,  it  is  what  we  say, 
which  dissatisfies  them.  They  will  continue  to  accuse  us 
of  doing,  until  we  cease  saying. 

I  am  also  aware  they  have  not,  as  yet,  in  terms  de- 
manded the  overthrow  of  our  Free-State  Constitutions. 
Yet  those  Constitutions  declare  the  wrong  of  slavery, 
with  more  solemn  emphasis,  than  do  all  other  sayings 
against  it ;  and  when  all  these  other  sayings  shall  have 
been  silenced,  the  overthrow  of  these  Constitutions  will  be 
demanded,  and  nothing  be  left  to  resist  the  demand.  It 
is  nothing  to  the  contrary,  that  they  do  not  demand  the 
whole  of  this  just  now.  Demanding  what  they  do,  and 
for  the  reason  they  do,  they  can  voluntarily  stop  nowhere 
short  of  this  consummation.  Holding,  as  they  do,  that 
slavery  is  morally  right,  and  socially  elevating,  they  can- 
not cease  to  demand  a  full  national  recognition  of  it,  as  a 
legal  right,  and  a  social  blessing. 

Nor  can  we  justifiably  withhold  this,  on  any  ground 
save  our  conviction  that  slavery  is  wrong.  If  slavery  is 
right,  all  words,  acts,  laws,  and  constitutions  against  it, 
are  themselves  wrong,  and  should  be  silenced,  and  swept 
away.  If  it  is  right,  we  cannot  justly  object  to  its  nation- 
ality— its  universality;  if  it  is  wrong,  they  cannot  justly 
insist  upon  its  extension— its  enlargement.  All  they  ask, 
we  could  readily  grant,  if  we  thought  slavery  right ;  all 
we  ask,  they  could  as  readily  grant,  if  they  thought  it 
wrong.  Their  thinking  it  right,  and  our  thinking  it 
wrong,  is  the  precise  fact  upon  which  depends  the  whole 
controversy.  Thinking  it  right,  as  they  do,  they  are  not 
to  blame  for  desiring  its  full  recognition,  as  being  right ; 


102  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

but,  thinking  it  wrong,  as  we  do,  can  we  yield  to  them  ? 
Can  we  cast  our  votes  with  their  view,  and  against  our 
own  ?  In  view  of  our  moral,  social,  and  political  respon- 
sibilities, can  we  do  this  ? 

Wrong  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  afford  to  let 
it  alone  where  it  is,  because  that  much  is  due  to  the 
necessity  arising  from  its  actual  presence  in  the  nation  ; 
but  can  we,  while  our  votes  will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to 
spread  into  the  National  Territories,  and  to  overrun  us 
here  in  these  Free  States  ? 

If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand  by 
our  duty,  fearlessly  and  effectively.  Let  us  be  diverted 
by  none  of  those  sophistical  contrivances  wherewith  we 
are  so  industriously  plied  and  belabored — contrivances 
such  as  groping  for  some  middle  ground  between  the 
right  and  the  wrong,  vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who 
should  be  neither  a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man — such  as 
a  policy  of  "don't  care"  on  a  question  about  which  all 
true  men  do  care — such  as  Union  appeals  beseeching  true 
Union  men  to  yield  to Disunionists,  reversing  the  divine 
rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sinners,  but  the  righteous  to 
repentance — such  as  invocations  to  Washington,  implor- 
ing men  to  unsay  what  Washington  said,  and  undo  what 
Washington  did. 

Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false  ac- 
cusations against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by  menaces 
of  destruction  to  the  Government,  nor  of  dungeons  to 
ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and 
in  that  faith,  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our  duty,  as 
we  understand  it. 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  103 


THE  NOMINATION. 

The  Republican  Nominating  Convention  met  at 
Chicago  on  the  16th  of  May,  and  spent  one  day  in 
organizing,  another  in  adopting  a  platform,  and  on  the 
third  proceeded  to  ballot  for  a  candidate.  On  the  third 
ballot  Abram  Lincoln  was  nominated,  and  immediately 
afterwards  declared  to  be  the  unanimous  choice  of  the 
Convention.  The  scene  of  enthusiasm  which  was  then 
enacted  both  within  and  without  the  building  is 
described  by  eye  witnesses  to  have  been  extremely 
exciting.  The  fact  that  a  citizen  of  Illinois  had  been 
nominated  by  so  great  and  powerful  a  party  for  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  very  naturally 
awoke  all  the  enthusiasm  of  his  political  allies  in 
Chicago,  and  the  members  of  the  Convention  themselves 
shared  in  the  delight  that  their  important  labors  had 
been  so  speedily  and  so  peacefully  consummated. 
Hannibal  Hamlin  was,  on  the  second  ballot,  nominated 
for  the  Vice-Presidency. 

The  Committee  appointed  by  the  Chicago  Conven- 
tion, comprising  President  Ashmun  and  the  Chairmen 
of  the  State  delegations,  to  officially  announce  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  his  nomination,  arrived  at  Springfield  on  Satur- 
day night,  and  proceeded  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  residence, 


104  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

where  Mr.  Ashmun  in  a  brief  speech  presented  Mr. 
Lincoln  the  letter  announcing  his  nomination. 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied,  as  follows  : — 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee — I 
tender  you,  and  through  you  to  the  Republican  National 
Convention  and  all  the  people  represented  in  it,  my 
profoundest  thanks  for  the  high  honor  done  me,  which 
you  formally  announce.  Deeply  and  even  painfully 
sensible  of  the  great  responsibility  which  is  inseparable 
from  that  honor,  a  responsibility  which  I  could  almost 
wish  could  have  fallen  upon  some  one  of  the  far  more 
eminent  men  and  experienced  statesmen,  whose  dis- 
tinguished names  were  before  the  Convention,  I  shall, 
by  your  leave,  consider  more  fully  the  resolutions  of  the 
Convention  denominated  the  platform,  and  without 
unreasonable  delay  respond  to  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  in 
writing,  not  doubting  that  the  platform  will  be  found 
satisfactory,-  and  the  nomination  accepted ;  and  now  I 
will  no  longer  defer  the  pleasure  of  taking  you  and  each 
of  you  by  the  hand. 


THE   PLATFORM. 

The  platform  on  which  the  adherents  of  Lincoln  and 
Hamlin  are  to  fight  during  the  present  campaign  is  as 
follows : — 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  delegated  representatives  of 
the  Republican  electors  of  the  United  States,  in  Con- 
vention assembled,  in  the  discharge  of  the  du,ty  we  owe 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  105 

to  our  constituents  and  our  country,  unite  in  the  follow- 
ing declarations: — 


1st.  That  the  history  of  the  nation  during  the  last  four 
years  has  fully  established  the  propriety  and  necessity 
of  the  organization  and  perpetuation  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  that  the  causes  which  called  it  into  existence 
are  permanent  in  their  nature,  and  now  more  than  ever 
before  demand  its  peaceful  and  constitutional  triumph. 

2d.  That  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  promul- 
gated in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  embo- 
died in  the  Federal  Constitution,  is  essential  to  the 
preservation  of  our  Republican  institutions,  and  that  the 
Federal  Constitution,  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  the 
Union  of  the  States,  must  and  shall  be  preserved. 

3d.  That  to  the  Union  of  the  States  this  nation  owes 
its  unprecedented  increase  in  population ;  its  surprising 
development  of  material  resources ;  its  rapid  augmenta- 
tion of  wealth ;  its  happiness  at  home  and  its  honor 
abroad ;  and  we  hold  in  abhorrence  all  schemes  for  dis- 
union, come  from  whatever  source  they  may  ;  and  we 
congratulate  the  country  that  no  Republican  member 
of  Congress  has  uttered  or  countenanced  a  threat  of 
disunion,  so  often  made  by  Democratic  members  of 
Congress  without  rebuke,  and  with  applause  from  their 
political  associates ;  and  we  denounce  those  threats  of 
disunion,  in  case  of  a  popular  overthrow  of  their 
ascendancy,  as  denying  the  vital  principles  of  a  free 
government,  and  as  an  avowal  of  contemplated  treason, 

6* 


106  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

which  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  an  indignant  people 
strongly  to  rebuke  and  forever  silence. 

Wk.  That  the  maintenance,  inviolate,  of  the  rights  of 
the  States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each  State  to 
order  and  control  its  own  domestic  institutions,  accord- 
ing to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is  essential  to  that 
balance  of  power  on  which  the  perfection  and  endur- 
ance of  our  political  faith  depends ;  and  we  denounce 
the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force  of  any  state  or  Ter- 
ritory, no  matter  under  what  pretext,  as  among  the 
gravest  of  crimes. 

5th.  That  the  present  Democratic  administration  has 
far  exceeded  our  worst  apprehensions  in  its  measureless 
subserviency  to  the  exactions  of  a  sectional  interest,  as 
is  especially  evident  in  its  desperate  exertions  to  force 
the  infamous  Lecompton  constitution  upon  the  protest- 
ing people  of  Kansas — in  construing  the  personal  rela- 
tion between  master  and  servant  to  involve  an  unquali- 
fied property  in  persons — in  its  attempted  enforcement 
everywhere,  on  land  and  sea,  through  the  intervention 
of  Congress  and  the  federal  courts,  of  the  extreme  pre- 
tensions of  a  purely  local  interest,  and  in  its  general  and 
unvarying  abuse  of  the  power  entrusted  to  it  by  a  con- 
fiding people. 

6th.  That  the  people  justly  view  with  alarm  the  reck- 
less extravagance  which  pervades  every  department  of 
the  federal  government ;  that  a  return  to  rigid  economy 
and  accountability  is  indispensable  to  arrest  the  system 
of  plunder  of  the  public  treasury  by  favored  partisans ; 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  107 

while  the  recent  startling  developments  of  fraud  and 
corruption  at  the  federal  metropolis,  show  that  an  entire 
change  of  administration  is  imperatively  demanded. 

7th.  That  the  new  dogma  that  the  constitution  of  its 
own  force  carries  slavery  into  any  or  all  of  the  Terri- 
tories of  the  United  States  is  a  dangerous  political 
heresy,  at  variance  with  the  explicit  provisions  of  that 
instrument  itself,  with  contemporaneus  exposition,  and 
with  legislative  and  judicial  precedent ;  is  revolutionary 
in  its  tendency,  and  subversive  of  the  peace  and  har- 
mony of  the  country. 

Sth  That  the  normal  condition  of  all  the  territory  of 
the  United  States  is  that  of  freedom ;  that  as  our  repub- 
lican fathers,  when  they  had  abolished  slavery  in  all  our 
national  territory,  ordained  that  no  person  should  be 
deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process 
of  law,  it  becomes  our  duty,  by  legislation,  whenever 
Biich  legislation  is  necessary,  to  maintain  this  provision 
of  the  constitution  against  all  attempts  to  violate  it ;  and 
we  deny  the  authority  of  Congress,  of  a  Territorial 
Legislature,  or  of  any  individuals,  to  give  legal  existence 
to  slavery  in  any  Territory  of  the  United  States. 

9th.  That  we  brand  the  recent  reopening  of  the  Afri- 
can slave  trade,  under  the  cover  of  our  national  flag, 
aided  by  perversions  of  judicial  power,  as  a  crime 
against  humanity,  a  burning  shame  to  our  country  and 
age ;  and  we  call  upon  Congress  to  take  prompt  and 
efficient  measures  for  the  total  and  final  suppression  of 
that  execrable  traffic. 


108  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

10th.  That  in  their  recent  vetoes  by  their  federal  go- 
vernors of  the  acts  of  the  Legislature  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  prohibiting  slavery  in  those  Territories,  we 
find  a  practical  illustration  of  the  boasted  Democratic 
principles  of  non-intervention  and  popular  sovereignty, 
embodied  in  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  bill,  and  a 
denunciation  of  the  deception  and  fraud  involved 
therein. 


11th.  That  Kansas  should  of  right  be  immediately 
admitted  as  a  State  under  the  Constitution  recently 
formed  and  adopted  by  her  people,  and  accepted  by  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

12th.  That  while  providing  revenue  for  the  support 
of  the  general  government  by  duties  upon  imposts, 
sound  policy  requires  such  an  adjustment  of  these 
imposts  as  to  encourage  the  development  of  the  indus- 
trial interest  of  the  whole  country,  and  we  commend 
the  policy  of  national  exchanges  which  secures  to  the 
working  men  liberal  wages,  to  agriculture  remunerating 
prices,  to  mechanics  and  manufacturers  an  adequate 
reward  for  their  skill,  labor  and  enterprise,  and  to  the 
nation  commercial  prosperity  and  independence. 

13th.  That  we  protest  against  any  sale  or  alienation  to 
others  of  the  public  lands  held  by  actual  settlers,  and 
against  any  view  of  the  free  Homestead  policy  which 
regards  the  settlers  as  paupers  or  supplicants  for  public 
bounty,  and  we  demand  the  passage  by  Congress  of  the 
complete  and  satisfactory  Homestead  measure  which  has 
already  passed  the  House. 


The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln.  109 

l±th.  That  the  National  Eepublican  party  is  opposed 
to  any  change  in  our  Naturalization  laws,  or  any  State 
legislation  by  which  the  rights  of  citizenship,  hitherto 
accorded  to  immigrants  from  foreign  lands,  shall  be 
abridged  or  impaired  ;  and  in  favor  of  giving  a  full  and 
efficient  protection  to  the  rights  of  all  classes  of  citizens, 
whether  native  or  naturalized,  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

15th.  That  appropriations  by  Congress  for  river  and 
harbor  improvements,  of  a  national  character,  required 
for  the  accommodation  and  security  of  an  existing  com- 
merce, are  authorized  by  the  Constitution  and  justified 
by  an  obligation  of  the  Government  to  protect  the  lives 
and  property  of  its  citizens. 

16$.  That  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  is  impera- 
tively demanded  by  the  interests  of  the  whole  country ; 
that  the  Federal  Government  ought  to  render  immediate 
and  efficient  aid  in  its  construction,  and  that  as  prelimi- 
nary thereto,  a  daily  overland  mail  should  be  promptly 
established. 

17ih.  Finally,  having  thus  set  forth  our  distinctive 
principles  and  views,  we  invite  the  co-operation  of  all 
citizens,  however  differing  on  other  questions,  who  sub- 
stantially agree  with  us  in  their  affirmance  and  support. 

And  so  we  have  traced  the  career  of  the  representative 
man,  from  his  lowly  origin  and  his  early  life  as  a  splitter 
of  rails  and  Mississippi  flat-boatman,  up  to  that  proud 
moment  when  he  received  the  formal  announcement  of  his 
nomination  to  the  position  of  President  of  theUnited  States, 


no  The  Life  of  Abram  Lincoln. 

a  position  in  some  respects  the  proudest  that  a  living  being 
can  occupy.  Others  are  as  powerful,  but  they  are  inherited 
or  won  by  bloodshed  and  fraud.  Alexander  of  Russia 
obtained  his  place  by  no  merit  of  his  own ;  Napoleon  of 
France  gained  his  by  means  that  the  world  has  agreed  to 
pronounce  disgraceful  and  unworthy  ;  but  the  President 
of  the  American  republic  is  chosen  by  the  free  and  honest 
suffrages  of  his  countrymen.  If  Abram  Lincoln  is  des- 
tined to  be  the  next  successor  of  Washington  and  Adams 
and  Jefferson  and  Jackson,  let  us  trust  that  he  will  always 
continue  to  deserve  his  cognomen  of  Honest  Old  Abe. 


HANNIBAL     HAMLIN. 


THE  LIFE  OF  HAMIBAL  HAMLIN. 


Mr.  Lincoln  represents  the  extreme  "West,  Mr.  Ham- 
lin the  furthest  of  the  Eastern  .States.  The  latter  was  born 
in  Paris,  Oxford  county,  Maine,  August  27, 1809,  the  same 
year  which  gave  Lincoln  to  the  world.  He  is  by  profes- 
sion a  lawyer,  but  has  been  constantly  in  public  life  for 
the  last  twenty-four  years.  In  1836,  when  only  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature  of  Maine,  and  served  in  that  capacity  with 
so  much  ability  as  to  be  re-elected  for  four  successive 
years.  His  comrades,  as  well  as  his  constituents,  must 
have  appreciated  him  highly,  for  he  was  elected  Speaker 
of  the  Legislative  House  of  Eepresentatives  when  he  was 
twenty-eight,  and  retained  the  position  during  three 
annual  sessions.  From  the  State  capitol  to  the  National 
capitol  was  the  natural  advancement,  and  in  1843  Mr. 


1 14  The  Life  of  Hannibal  Hamlin. 

Hamlin  was  sent  to  Washington  by  the  Democratic  party, 
with  whom  he  had  always  acted.  He  served  four  years 
in  Congress  with  ability  and  fidelity  to  his  constituents ; 
and  at  the  expiration  of  his  second  term,  returned  to  the 
state  Legislature  of  Maine,  his  political  friends  leaving 
him  no  leisure  from  political  life,  and  allowing  him  no 
respite  from  political  honors.  In  1848,  on  the  death  of 
John  Fairfield,  United  States  Senator,  he  was  elected  to 
fill  the  vacancy,  in  the  the  upper  house  of  Congress ;  and 
in  1851  was  re-elected  for  the  full  term  in  the  same  body. 
In  1854,  Mr.  Hamlin  formally  left  the  Democratic  party, 
with  which  he  had  acted  so  long  ;  not  approving  of  the 
Nebraska  Bill,  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  sever  the 
political  ties  which  he  had  hitherto  acknowledged.  Since 
then,  he  has  been  a  firm  and  consistent  Republican.  His 
conduct  at  that  time  was  the  subject  of  great  discussion, 
and  contributed  materially  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Republican  party  in  Maine.  It  received  the  complete 
endorsement  of  his  native  State.  In  1857,  having  been 
elected  Governor  of  Maine,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Sen- 
ate, and  took  the  oath  of  inauguration  as  Governor  on  the 
same  day,  January  7,  1857.  On  the  16th  of  the  same 
month  he  was  re-elected  United  States  Senator  for  six 
years,  and  resigned  the  office  of  Governor  on  the  20th 


The  Life  of  Hannibal  Hamlin.  115 

of  February,  1857.  This  peculiar  heaping  of  honors 
upon  him  was  looked  upon  by  those  who  conferred  them 
(the  people  and  the  Legislature),  and  by  him  who  received 
them,  as  the  reward  of  his  behavior  in  1854,  and  as  an 
indication  of  the  complete  satisfaction  that  behavior  had 
afforded  the  Republicans  of  Maine.  Mr.  Hamlin's  term 
in  the  Senate  has  not  yet  expired ;  he  is  now  a  member 
of  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  and  on  the  District  of 
Columbia.  His  abilities  are  solid  rather  than  brilliant ; 
his  talent  executive  rather  than  oratorical.  His  integrity 
is  undoubted,  his  manners  dignified,  his  character  in  every 
way  eminently  respectable.  His  nomination  has  been 
received  by  his  party  with  complete  satisfaction  ;  it  was 
accomplished  on  the  second  ballot. 

On  the  evening  of  the  19th  of  May,  the  day  after  the 
nominations  at  Chicago  were  made,  a  serenade  was  offered 
Mr.  Hamlin  by  the  Republican  Association  of  Washing- 
ton, on  which  occasion  the  candidate  for  the  Vice  Presi- 
dency made  the  following  remarks : 

Fellow-citizens  :  Sympathizing  with  you  in  the  prin- 
ciples which  have  united  us,  I  am  happy  to  greet  you  on 
this  occasion.  I  am  pleased  to  mingle  my  thoughts  with 
yours  in  that  tribute  which  you  pay  to  a  common  cause. 


l  J  6  The  Life  of  Hannibal  Hamlin. 

You  have  come,  my  friends,  for  the  purpose  of  congratu- 
lating each  other  upon  the  result  of  the  action  of  our 
friends  who  have  met  in  council  at  Chicago,  the  commu- 
nication of  whose  decision  has  come  to  us  over  the  tele- 
graphic wires.  Unsolicited,  unexpected,  and  undesired, 
the  nomination  has  been  conferred  upon  me.  Unsolicited 
as  it  was,  I  accept  it,  with  the  responsibilities  which 
attach  to  it — in  the  earnest  and  ardent  hope  that  the 
cause,  which  is  superior  to  men,  shall  receive  no  detri- 
ment at  my  hands.  You  are  here  to  pay  tribute 
to  that  man  who  is  to  bear  your  standard  on  to  what 
we  hope  and  believe  will  be  a  triumphant  victory. 
You  are  here  to  pay  a  tribute  to  that  young  giant  of  the 
West,  who  comes  from  that  region  where  the  star  of  em- 
pire has  already  culminated.  You  come  to  pay  a  tri- 
bute to  that  man  who  is  not  only  the  representative 
man  of  your  principles,  but  a  representative  man  of 
the  people ; — that  man  who  is  identified  in  all  your 
interests  by  his  early  associations  in  life,  who  sympa- 
thizes justly  and  truly  with  the  labor  of  all  this  broad 
land,  himself  inured  to  toil.  Capacious,  comprehen- 
sive, a  statesman  incorruptible,  a  man  over  whom  the 
shade  of   suspicion   has  never  cast  a  reproach. 

But  what  is  the  mission,  my  friends,  that  is  commit- 
ted to  our  hands?  It  is  to  bring  back  your  Govern- 
ment to  the  position,  to  bring  back  the  principles  and 
practices  of  its  fathers  and  founders,  and  administer  in  the 


The  Life  of  Hannibal  Hamlin.  117 

light  of  their  wisdom.  It  is  to  purge  the  Government  of 
its  corruptions,  compared  with  which  those  in  any  other 
administration  pale  into  utter  insignificance.  It  is  to 
maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  with  the  just  rights 
of  all  the  States ;  and  while  the  just  rights  of  all  the 
States  are  maintained,  it  is  also  to  maintain  that  States 
shall  not  interfere  in  territories  outside  of  their  own  juris- 
diction. And  it  is  to  give  new  aids  to  commerce  across 
the  trackless  ocean — it  is  to  foster  and  give  new  life  to 
the  industry  of  this  broad  land. 


THE  NEW  NO  VELS. 


The  Kellys  and  the  O'Kellys. 

A  new  novel  by  the  author  of  "  Doctor  Thome."  Re- 
printed from  the  London  edition.  One  vol.,  12?no., 
muslin.     Price  $1.25. 


***  The  enormous  circulation  in  England  last  year  of  "  Doctor 
Thorne,"  and  the  many  thousand  copies  sold  in  this  country,  is 
sufficient  guaranty  of  the  excellence  of  this  author's  novels.  The 
"  Kellys  and  the  O'Kellys  "  is  a  reprint  of  one  of  his  best. 


The  Adventures  of  Verdant  Green. 

From  the  London  edition.  Three  vols,  in  one.  Nearly 
200  humorous  illustrations.  12rao.,  muslin.  Price, 
$1.00. 

***  This  capital  volume  is  published  from  the  English  stereotype 
plates,  with  all  the  illustrations.  It  is  one  of  the  best  stories  of 
English  university  life,  and  has  already  reached,  in  London,  the 
enormous  circulation  of  90,000  copies. 


Romance  of  a  Poor  Young  Man. 

By  Octave  Feuillet.    Translated  from  the  seventh  Paris 
edition.     One  vol.,  12mo.,  muslin.     Price  $1.00. 

*+*  The  New  York  Tribune  says  :  "  This  book  has  been  hailed  by 
both  French  and  English  critics,  as  perhaps  the  most  striking  and 
admirable  work  of  fiction,  that  appeared  in  any  country  during  the 
year  1858.  Indeed,  since  'Jane  Eyre'  startled  the  novel-reading 
world,  we  hardly  remember  any  production  of  the  kind,  which  for 
beauty  and  interest  can  be  compared  with  this." 

(ORDER  THE  MUSLIN  EDITION.) 


These  books  are  sold  by  booksellers  everywhere,  and  will 
be  sent  by  mail,  postage  free,  on  receipt  of  the  price,  by 

RVDD  &  (VKu;to\,  Publishers, 

130  Grand  Street,  New  York. 


^ 


NEW   B  0  OKS. 


The  Habits  of  Good  Society. 

One  large  l*2mo.  volume.  Reprinted  from  the  Lon- 
don Edition.  Handsomely  hound  in  cloth.  Price, 
$1.25. 

An  interesting  and  readable  hand-book  for  ladies  and  gentlemen. 
"With  thoughts,  hints,  and  anecdotes,  concerning  social  observations, 
nice  points  of  taste  and  good  manners,  and  the  art  of  making  oneself 
agreeable.  A  more  sensible  book  on  good  breeding  has  rarely 
appeared ;  a  more  entertaining  and  interesting  one,  never.  It 
abounds  in  wit,  anecdote,  and  good  taste  ;  the  whole  tempered  by 
sound  common  sense,  and  rendered  fascinating  by  a  pleasant  and 
agreeable  style.  It  is  a  work  that  will  amuse  and  at  the  same  time 
impart  many  useful  lessons  to  all  who  claim  to  move  in  good  soci- 
ety. So  rapid  has  been  its  sale  in  this  country  that  a  fifth,  edition 
has  already  been  called  for.  The  New  Orleans  Bulletin  says : 
"  The  reader  will  find  this  excellent  book  brimful  of  humor  and 
good  sense.  It  is  by  far  the  best,  wittiest,  and  most  interesting 
book  on  manners  we  have  ever  seen." 


ALSO,  JUST  PUBLISHED, 

The  Curiosities  of  Natural  History. 

By  Francis  T.  Buckland,  m.d.,  Oxford.  Reprinted 
from  the  fourth  London  Edition.  One  large  12mo. 
vol.  Muslin.     Price,  $1.25. 

The  Boston  Pilot,  in  speaking  of  this  volume,  says :  M  It  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  books  on  natural  history  that  we  have  ever 
seen.  It  is  a  work  of  the  son  of  the  late  celebrated  Geologist,  and 
is  a  novelty  among  books  of  its  kind.  It  is  written  in  a  clear 
straightforward  style,  which  will  be  grateful  to  the  general  reader 
from  its  unscientific  character.  It  is  more  like  the  conversation  of 
a  good  humored  and  diligent  observer  of  nature,  who  is  thoroughly 
versed  in  his  favorite  science  and  in  general  literature,  than  a  made 
up  book.  If  anybody  wishes  to  know  more  about  natural  history 
than  he  ever  did  before,  he  has  only  to  read  this  entertaining 
volume." 


***  These  boohs  are  sold  by  all  Booksellers,  and  will 
be  sent  by  mail,  postage  free,  on  receipt  of  the  price,  by 

RVDD  &  CARIETOX,  Publishers 

130  Grand  Street,  New  York. 


\ 


\ 


JUST  PUBLISHED. 


\ 


LOVE     (L'AMOUR). 

Translated  from  the  original  French  ofM.  J.  Michelet. 
By  J.  W.  Palmeb,  M.t).  One  vol.  12mo.,  elegantly 
bound  in  muslin.     Price,  $1  0^ 

The  successful  sale  of  this  remarkable  Vohune  has  been  the  subject 

of  amazement  everywhere.     Newspapers  are%ut  with  long  reviews  of 

it;  copious  extracts  are  filling  the  columns  of  most  of  our  journals; 

critics  are  by  the  ears  upon  the  morality  and  tendency  of  its  tone — 

the  volume  is  in  its  twenty-sixth    edition.     The  New    Orleans 

•  This  remarkable  book  has  produced  an  impression 

I  lie  reading  public  almost  without  parallel  in  late  years.     Such 

audacity  and  delicacy,  such  rigorous   analysis  and   tender  sentiment 

i-arcely  ever  before  so  artistically  and  effectively  combined.     It 

is  a  volume  of  naked  truth  on  a  delicate  subject — the  truest,  boldest, 

tenderest  plea  ever  made  in  behalf  of  woman. 


L 


ALSO  UNIFORM   WITH   THE  ABOVE. 

WOMAN      (LA      FEMME) 


unstated  from  the  French  of  Michelet  {author  of 
"  F  Amour).  By  J.  W.  Palmer,  M.D.  One  vol.  L2mo., 
elegantly  bound  in  muslin.     Price,  %\  00. 

The  sale  of  this  very  remarkable  new  work  by  Michelet  (author  of 
"Love,"  L'Amour)  has  more  than  realized  the  anticipations  of  its  pub- 
lishers. Many  thousand  copies  have  been  eagerly  bought,  and  its  cir- 
culation will  no  doubt  equal  that  of  its  predecessor,  "  Love,"  the  success 
of  which  has  been  characterized  as  the  great  fact  of  the  publishing 
year.  The  Hoston  Saturday  Gazette,  says :  "  The  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  who  have  read  and  re-read  Michelet's  '  Love,'  will  need 
no  urging  to  purchase  his  new  work,  '  Woman.'  It  is  as  philosophical, 
as  instructing,  and  as  fascinating.  *  *  *  A  book  every  man  and 
every  woman  ought  to  read.  It  cannot  fail  to  interest,  and  we  firmly 
believe  it  cannot  fail  to  benefit.  We  have  no  words  for  it  but  those  of 
honest  praise." 


*#*  These  books  are  sold  by  all  Booksellers,  and  will  be 
sent  by  mail,  postage  free,  on  receipt  of  the  price  by 

RVDD  A,  CARLETON,  Publishers, 

130  Grand  Street,  New  York. 


PI  BUSHED 
THE  LIFE  TRAVELS   AND  BOOKS  OF 

ALEXANDER    VON    HUMBOLDT. 

With  an  Jntn  \rdTayi 

12i  i itly  Lou  art  in  mm. 

nal  trait.     1 '  ■  '  i'o. 

fe  from  bin 
que  si  ■  'Is  and  Adventures  in  the 

bis  relatives  and  Jit. 
compl  trks,  with  <  his  mo 

impoi  it-lit  of  his  aehie 

I 

of  Humboldt's  books.     *     * 

d  with  th< 
is  volumes  i 
readable  and  ii 
lately  issu< 


I 


ALSO,  UMFORItl   WITH  ABOVE 

THE  PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE  OF 

ALEXANDER    VON    HUMBOLDT. 

A  copyright  translation,  from  the  orig 

Fur  -i:     One  large  12mo.  hound 

m,\  Portrait.     J', 

%*  The  p  Letters  in  Germany 

3  announc- 
Baron  Humbolc' 

and  Q] 

iff-hand  pri 

!•  sparing,  i 

curioti  ests,  from  many 

;ted  and  pri 

%*  These  books  I  by  all  } 

sent  by  mail,  \  ••  of  the  J 

KI'DD  A;  CARLETO!^,  Publishers, 

No.  130  Grant  I 


^1 


